Dr Jeremy Bray: I look forward to debating the economy of Teesside with the hon. Gentleman in the future, but I think that he is wrong in his analysis. With retained profits in British Steel cut from £399 million last year to £18 million this year, and interest rates in the United Kingdom the second highest in the industrial world, I do not know where British Steel will get the extra £300 million that it...
Dr Jeremy Bray: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Dr Jeremy Bray: It was the responsibility of the Government to arrange the business for today, and they did so in the full knowledge that the Secretary of State for Scotland would not be present. Was it a ruse to excuse him from the debate?
Dr Jeremy Bray: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Today, after 12 o'clock—so I was not able to raise this matter under Standing Order No. 20—British Steel announced the strategic decision to close the Dalzell platemill in my constituency. It is one of the last remaining steel plants in Scotland. This was a major decision, but no announcement was made by the Department of Trade and Industry or by the...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the Minister aware that we need action, not another inquiry? We need wide-ranging action not only on resources, which have fallen far behind those of our industrial competitors, but on science education. There are many priority areas within science to which resources need to be switched, such as the realignment of defence research. It is clear that the Government are failing the nation.
Dr Jeremy Bray: It depends on who "we" are. If "we" are the Government, they can decide to do that at any stage that they choose. But today "we" are the House of Commons. This is the last occasion on which the House will be able to include the requirement which Members on both sides of the House urge upon the Government.
Dr Jeremy Bray: I beg to move amendment No. 2, in page 4, line 16, at end insert:— `(4A) The Secretary of State shall not set a target investment limit of less than 50.01 per cent. of the total voting rights until a period of at least five years has elapsed from the appointed day.'. The amendment seeks to provide, by means of a golden share, a mechanism by which the assurances and words of comfort that the...
Dr Jeremy Bray: New clause 1 is not as defective as the hon. Gentleman suggests because clause 15 defines the successor company as the company nominated for the purposes of section 1"; and under clause 1 the successor company is the company that the Secretary of State may by order appoint all the property, rights and liabilities to". Only the sale of shares in the successor company constitutes the act of...
Dr Jeremy Bray: rose—
Dr Jeremy Bray: The hon. Gentleman is making a useful speech. He said that he would like to see a golden share. Will he support amendment No. 2, which creates such a golden share for the precise period that he specified?
Dr Jeremy Bray: This useful group of amendments has attracted hon. Members who have a contribution to make to the subject of the Bill. Some of them spoke on Second Reading but were, unfortunately, excluded from the Committee, no doubt by the machinations of Committee selection procedure and the Whips, not to mention the Minister. Had they been members of the Committee, the Bill would have been in rather...
Dr Jeremy Bray: The hon. Gentleman claims too much by saying "we" transformed BTG, if he refers to Conservative Members or even the Government. The staff and management of BTG transformed its operations and tightened up consideration of the intellectual property from universities and research councils. The greater concern of pursuing and promoting applications and so on was not the result of Government...
Dr Jeremy Bray: The nationalised industries were not generally excluded from participation in, for example, the European Community research programmes. Several such organisations have taken part in those programmes, but BTG was not allowed to do so simply because of a doctrinaire act on the part of the Government—
Dr Jeremy Bray: The programmes in which British Steel has been engaged in the European Community would have been entirely open to nationalised industries, and were, indeed, used by them. It would have been possible for BTG to do so but for its arbitrary exclusion by the Department of Trade and Industry. If we are looking for a more effective and balanced way to build a bridge between university research and...
Dr Jeremy Bray: I hate to disabuse the hon. Gentleman, but we voted against the Second Reading and, subject to what the Minister has to say, no doubt we shall vote against the Third Reading. We have steadily expressed our opposition to the Bill throughout. Certainly within the framework of Government policy we seek to improve the Bill as far as it can be improved.
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that since his last business statement the Select Committee on Trade and Industry has published its report calling for an early debate in the House on the closure of Ravenscraig, and that since the report was completed the situation has further deteriorated, with the closure of another blast furnace? Do the Government intend to find time for an early debate,...
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is the Secretary of State aware that everyone in Scotland, and especially in Lanarkshire, will be glad to see an end to the poll tax? However, it is an especially tragic time in Scotland for the Government to have the whole structure of local government and of local government finance fall to bits in their incompetent hands. Does the Secretary of State realise that we have already lost 3,000...
Dr Jeremy Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether his Department is meeting its objective of encouraging industry to increase its funding of research and development.
Dr Jeremy Bray: Is not it a matter of great concern that industrial research and development has fallen by 4·7 per cent. according to figures published last week by the Central Statistical Office? Since 1985, the only industry to have increased its research is the chemical industry, with a 41 per cent. increase in real terms. There have been catastrophic falls in R and D of 6 per cent. in electronics, 20...
Dr Jeremy Bray: rose——
