§ 47. Mr. Warbeyasked the Paymaster-General whether he is yet in a position to give estimates of the anticipated demand for coal in 1960 and succeeding years.
§ Mr. MaudlingMy noble Friend hopes that with the revival in economic activity the recent fall in demand will be halted, but the level of demand in future years will depend on the competitive position of coal as well as on the expansion of the economy.
§ Mr. WarbeyAs the Minister has admitted today that coal is competitive with oil, certainly with respect to consumption in power stations, will he take further steps to ensure that there is a transfer from oil to coal burning in power stations, and will he also take into account the fact that the miners in the coal industry are looking urgently to the Government for a definite guarantee that when they produce the coal for which they are asked, the coal will be sold and not piled up at the pithead?
§ Mr. MaudlingI do not think it is possible to guarantee the sale of all coal that is mined unless it is mined on a competitive basis. As to the electricity generating industry, its consumption of coal will certainly rise substantially in the next few years.
§ Mr. ShinwellWhy does the right hon. Gentleman demand that the National Coal Board should be competitive in relation to other fuel and power industries and yet at the same time not issue instructions to the Coal Board to sell coal which is stocked at a lower price now? Is not that what is meant by competition?
§ Mr. MaudlingNo. The answer is that the nationalisation Statute passed by the right hon. Gentleman and his 29 party leaves, rightly in the opinion of the Government, commercial discretion in these matters to the National Coal Board.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsIs it not true that at the time when this country was suffering from a fuel shortage the National Coal Board was restrained from increasing its prices which competition would have allowed it to do? In one instance, the industry was restrained from doing so on the eve of a General Election to serve the interests of the party opposite. Are we now to understand that now that the situation has changed the Government say "Fend for yourselves and take the consequences"?
§ Mr. MaudlingWe do not intend to stop the Coal Board lowering its prices if it wants to do so. In these matters of price policy it is a matter for the Coal Board, which is the responsible commercial undertaking, to do what it thinks right.
§ Mr. GriffithsIf at a time when competition would have allowed the Coal Board to increase its prices the Government of the day prevented it from enjoying advantages of that kind of competition, what right have the Government now to throw the industry on to its own resources against competition which the right hon. Gentleman knows is subsidised?
§ Mr. MaudlingIf it is a question of subsidised competition, that is another matter; but the Government do not believe, and the Opposition have shown no sign of believing, that the coal industry should have special protection against competition.