Mr Bruce Millan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the prospects for manufacturing industry in Scotland.
Mr Bruce Millan: Does the Secretary of State agree that it is important to manufacturing industry in Scotland that it should have available to it an efficient and economic electricity supply? Is he aware that today's Energy Select Committee's report on the Government's proposals for electricity privatisation is a devastating indictment of the proposals, showing them to be ill-thought-out and thoroughly...
Mr Bruce Millan: rose—
Mr Bruce Millan: The answer that the right hon. Gentleman has just given is the first clear statement of what is going to happen after 1993. We welcome the fact that there are to be no immediate redundancies at Dounreay, but the Secretary of State has now said, has he not, that in 1993–94 Dounreay will close down; is that the reality? [Interruption.]
Mr Bruce Millan: indicated dissent.
Mr Bruce Millan: Is the Minister aware that what he has just said about a further batch order next year will be welcomed by every hon. Member with a naval shipbuilding interest in his constituency? In the meantime, his announcement today will be warmly welcomed on Clydeside, especially as it is clear that the order went to Yarrow strictly on merit—and as, without the order, Yarrow would have been faced with...
Mr Bruce Millan: The Minister mentioned decommissioning contracts. I do not know what he means by that. As far as I am aware, there are no decommissioning contracts for Hunterston, for example. Perhaps there are. Is that what the Minister is saying? If so, it is news to the rest of the House.
Mr Bruce Millan: Will the Minister clarify the question of foreign ownership? For example, in the case of Rolls-Royce it was possible to write those inhibitions into the articles of association as a national security interest was involved because of its importance to defence. In those circumstances, those inhibitions did not fall foul of the usual European Community rules. What is the position of the...
Mr Bruce Millan: It is now more than three months since the White Paper was published, and we have still not had answers to the basic questions that it raised. Can the Minister at least give us an assurance that, whatever else happens, the industry will not be allowed to fall into foreign hands? Nobody believes that it will stay under Scottish control, but can he at least give us that minimal assurance?
Mr Bruce Millan: The Minister keeps talking about shareholders, but is it not against all experience to expect shareholders to protect the national interest, as against protecting their own interests? In this case the management and work force of Rowntree and the local communities are all utterly opposed to the takeover. Does that count for absolutely nothing with the Government?
Mr Bruce Millan: Show us where we are.
Mr Bruce Millan: Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that nobody is more anxious than I am to get additional work placed at the Govan yard? I would warmly welcome orders for ships from Norway or anywhere else. What we object to is the disposal, or, more accurately, the give-away, of the yard. The Minister has produced absolutely no justification for that. Why can there not be an ordinary commercial...
Mr Bruce Millan: I fully support everything that my hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) has said about the clause, which is offensive even judged by the standards of the rest of the Bill. As I understand it, two sets of circumstances will be dealt with by the clause. I hope that the Minister will not just read out from the bits of paper in front of him when he replies. That is exactly...
Mr Bruce Millan: Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Following the points that you have fairly made, could not the matter be resolved if the Leader of the House gave an undertaking that the Secretary of State for Scotland will make a statement tomorrow? That is what we are asking for. Why can we not have such an undertaking?
Mr Bruce Millan: The reason why SSHA tenants are so suspicious about, and indeed hostile to, this legislation is that it was clear that the Goverment's original intention was to hive off houses from the SSHA, presumably to the private sector. The Government have been moved from that position because of the hostile reaction of the SSHA tenants and are now saying that those tenants do not have to worry, because...
Mr Bruce Millan: That is being done at the expense of the tenant. If a rent officer determines that the rent is excessive and fixes a lower rent, why should that not be the rent that is registered and paid to the landlord? Why should the landlord get a scandalously high rent?
Mr Bruce Millan: I did not say that.
Mr Bruce Millan: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will have heard from the previous debate that there was a strong feeling on the Opposition Benches that a Division should be allowed on new clause 39. Do I take it that it is not possible to have a Division on new clause 39 as a direct result of the guillotine motion? If that is the case, Opposition Members consider that to be outrageous.
Mr Bruce Millan: The right hon. Gentleman has said that pensioners' wives will be major gainers from the reform, and they will enjoy some gain. But the taxpayers who will gain overwhelmingly will be those with large investment incomes, or large incomes that include investments as well as earned income.
Mr Bruce Millan: No.