Dr Dickson Mabon: Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that this issue was debated in Parliament several times and Ministers assured us that Wytch Farm would be sold, not at any price, but at a realistic price? Is it true that the highest bid so far is about half of the valuation of Wytch Farm?
Dr Dickson Mabon: I sympathise with the general proposition, but one or two propositions must have been made by companies to determine the Government to introduce the order, with which I sympathise. I would like the Minister to tell us what large establishments would have been prejudiced without the order.
Dr Dickson Mabon: Will the Secretary of State again confirm that the statement offers a reduction in real terms in the programme of the fiscal year to come, as opposed to that in the present fiscal year? The right hon. Gentleman speaks of underspending, but will he consider the decisions made in the current year and bear in mind that much of that underspend was due to the fact that the Scottish Office did not...
Dr Dickson Mabon: When the Secretary of State meets the STUC, will he present it with a balance sheet of the figures, which were absent during our previous Question Time, of the 7,000 closures that have taken place as against, on balance, the 8,000 firms that he said were registered for VAT and the insignificant number of jobs that those 8,000 firms can provide? Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that we need...
Dr Dickson Mabon: There is no doubt that the British National Oil Corporation is the Government's unwanted child. If they had been able to sell off the trading section of the old BNOC with Britoil, I am sure that they would have done so. The Government realised that for two formidable reasons they could do nothing else but keep the corporation alive. First, they had more than 60 major legal contracts...
Dr Dickson Mabon: In the assessment of these matters, is it the Government's intention that net self-sufficiency in oil will be continued into the 1990s? Does that not mean that about 30 marginal fields will be required to be considered under very special taxation arrangements if they are to be brought into production?
Dr Dickson Mabon: asked the Secretary of State for Energy how many privately owned nuclear powered generating stations are in operation in the United Kingdom; and what recent requests he has received from individuals or private companies to build such nuclear powered generating stations.
Dr Dickson Mabon: Why are we persisting with the provision in the Energy Bill that allows private companies to be main generators of nuclear power? If the Minister does not sympathise with that, why does he not scrap it?
Dr Dickson Mabon: I have notes and I hope that the House will forgive me for referring to them as I go along. I might be more accurate. The hon. Member for Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth (Mr. Ewing) should give credit where it is due. It was from exchanges with me during the Minister's speech that it became clear that the Bill will apply to investment in the two boards which does not include any new...
Dr Dickson Mabon: The Minister and I must disagree. Unless we are to change the rules, my understanding is that, if such a commercial station were to be established, it would have to be built by one of the existing electricity boards. I may be wrong, but that is the information. given to me by my advisers.
Dr Dickson Mabon: With respect, if the Government were to change their mind on the timing, it is conceivable that it could come within the compass of the moneys voted in this Bill, given that there was no specific legislation to deal with the matter de novo in respect of the commercial station. Will the Minister, who is normally extremely well informed, take advice on that? All I am complaining about is the...
Dr Dickson Mabon: We are at one. That is what I am saying. I asked the Minister for confirmation of that, and he confirmed it. He has now reconfirmed it. All I am saying is that if the timetable which was issued last week as a written answer to a planted question by the hon. Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Ancram),—without the statement to the House of Commons which was promised by the Leader of the House...
Dr Dickson Mabon: The cry "Rubbish" comes from an hon. Member who forgets that the original concept of expanding the nuclear power programme was achieved in an entirely different economic climate. The hon. Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie), who was a colleague of mine at the Department of Energy, knows that to be true. If one reads all the White Papers, published by successive Governments over the past 30...
Dr Dickson Mabon: No, it was not. I lived through the period of scarcity. In the middle 1950s, when I first came to the House, there were serious scarcity problems. Our industrial expansion was seriously inhibited.
Dr Dickson Mabon: The hon. Gentleman must contain himself. He might even learn something for a change. He desperately needs to learn. There was a scarcity problem in 1956, which continued well into the 1960s. If the country is to prosper, we must proceed with the belief that our need for energy will expand, not contract. The hon. Member for Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth did not say that the Labour...
Dr Dickson Mabon: There are many problems that we have not yet solved, and I have no doubt that other problems will arise. Problems are there to be solved. The hon. Gentleman must not convert himself into a non-nuclear or anti-nuclear warrior on the grounds of safety. The hon. Gentleman is apt to do that. He is an intelligent man and I counsel him not to fall into that trap. I do not intend to be dragged into...
Dr Dickson Mabon: That is a very good point. Initially, that was true. If I am to believe the Minister—a tremendous question that begs many answers—he has rectified the situation. Despite the argument about the greetin' bairns of the chemical industry who are constantly complaining, we must consider the Minster's comment that, as far as the Government are concerned, the boards can treat industries ...
Dr Dickson Mabon: I am sorry, Mr. Deputy Speaker, if you misheard me. I was saying that the industries that made representations might not be entirely honest. The Minister may be misled, be under a misconception, be deceived by others, may not read his brief properly, may lose his place in the brief occasionally and be helped by interruptions, but he is never dishonest.
Dr Dickson Mabon: I could be assuaged by the Minister's remarks, but I have the gnawing feeling that the saga of Invergordon does not bear that out. We do not yet know the figures associated with the smelters in Anglesey and Blyth. We do not yet know the comparisons that can be made between the contracts for Alcan and Rio Tinto-Zinc. We do not know the full story behind the British Aluminium Company's...
Dr Dickson Mabon: Let us be absolutely clear about what the Minister is saying about the borrowing limit up to 1989. Will this increase service all foreseeable committed projects, including Torness, but no others?