Sir Andrew Duncan: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, not last night but on other occasions, has rightly warned the nation of the fate that may befall the country if we should be defeated in the present economic struggle. The iron and steel industry and the steel-using industries have been greatly strengthening the confidence of the country by the contributions which they have been making to the national...
Sir Andrew Duncan: If the right hon. and learned Gentleman is giving us credit for it, I gladly accept that. There is nothing secret about this international agreement. It was made not only with the authority of the then Government, but really under auspices of the then Government. It was an agreement which controlled the imports of foreign steel into this country and, at the same time, assured this country of...
Sir Andrew Duncan: I see the Chancellor of the Exchequer shakes his head, but I assert, and I repeat, that it is true. We will see how it works. During the two years in which the Ministry of Supply has exercised control of this industry through the Steel Board there has not been a single complaint either against the co-operation the industry has given or against the willingness of the industry to measure up...
Sir Andrew Duncan: I think it is a little unfair in this sense: that the consultants were independent consultants. It is true that they were consultants to the Iron and Steel Federation, but, equally, they were independent consultants to the Ministry of Supply and the Steel Board.
Sir Andrew Duncan: Are the five firms of whom the hon. Gentleman speaks included in this Bill?
Sir Andrew Duncan: I am sure that the hon. Member is not suggesting any breach of the allocations, as this concerns the system of allocations?
Sir Andrew Duncan: Is the hon. Member aware that steel castings are not covered by this Bill, and also that the Steel Casting Association is not a member of the Iron and Steel Federation?
Sir Andrew Duncan: I beg to move, in page 1, line 15, after "in," to insert: "(a) the City of London constituency shall be those resident there or who possess, in accordance with Part II of this Act, a nonresident qualification there; and(b)." In moving this Amendment I will not delay the House for long, but I make no apology for asking the Home Secretary and the House to reconsider the position of the City of...
Sir Andrew Duncan: The primary purpose of the White Paper is to bring home to the country just how serious the national position is, so serious indeed as to constitute a challenge to all. The survey does not pretend to outline a long-term plan for the rehabilitation of our position, but I was encouraged, by what the President of the Board of Trade had to say this afternoon, to hope that the Government have it...
Sir Andrew Duncan: I quite follow what the right hon. and learned Gentleman said, and I do not quarrel with it. But the situation is extraordinarily difficult, and far be it from me to add to the difficulties of estimation. I was, however, founding my observations upon the White Paper, which has postulated 200 million tons of coal, and I was not founding my observations upon the provisional budget on which the...
Sir Andrew Duncan: I am sorry if my words did not carry to the hon. Gentleman, but I started by saying that it was because we had converted and were still converting.
Sir Andrew Duncan: I have not made any calculation beyond 1947 because I am dealing with the coal budget and the industrial budget for 1947. I was observing that this restraint upon steel follows through into engineering and all metal-using trades. The White Paper budgets for a lower rate of home usage of steel by the metal-using trades than they had achieved in the last quarter of 1946. It declares its...
Sir Andrew Duncan: Sir Andrew Duncan (City of London) indicated assent.
Sir Andrew Duncan: My first duty to the House, in taking part in this Debate, is to disclose what has already been revealed, namely, that I hold an official position as independent chairman of the executive committee of the British Iron and Steel Federation. My second duty is to thank the Chancellor for the kindness with which he has tried to describe me, and I hope he will not think me ungracious if I...
Sir Andrew Duncan: If the right hon. Gentleman will look at HANSARD, he will find that this is his introduction: It has already been announced by important companies such as the South Durham Steel and Iron Company, the Cargo Fleet Iron Company and the Skinningrove Iron Company that they cannot accept this plan."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th May. 1946; Vol. 423, c. 850.] Now, words seem to mean very little when we...
Sir Andrew Duncan: Of course, that is the letter that was read to the House. That is the letter that was received; but what does the letter say?
Sir Andrew Duncan: Well, I am going to tell the right hon. Gentleman what it says. The letter says they are full parties to the plan but they do not accept the implication, for instance, that when the next plan comes on it may be that Skinningrove might have to go out. I suggest that the right hon. Gentleman, if he had read this report carefully—as no doubt he did—should have known what was the implication...
Sir Andrew Duncan: It is enough for my purpose, therefore, that the plan in the Report has not been challenged. That makes me ask the Lord President, if I may, to say what exactly he meant when on 19th November he said in this House: The Coalition Government invited the iron and steel industry to submit a Report on the improvements required to put the industry on an efficient operating basis. The Government...
Sir Andrew Duncan: We must not confuse things. I was talking, first, about Skinningrove, and, in the second case, about the South Durham Company. I distinguished between the two works of this last company. That at West Hartlepool is what the hon. Gentleman refers to now. The company is, as I described it, prepared to take part in the scheme in so far as Cargo Fleet is concerned on proper cooperative...
Sir Andrew Duncan: In my opinion, quite frankly, it would have been much better if the right hon. Gentleman had not said what he did yesterday. I propose to give the reason because it is no use my saying that unless I have a reason. The right hon. Gentleman said: Now, I propose to tell the House which sections it is proposed should be brought into public ownership, subject, of course, to the possibility of...
