HC Deb 13 February 1964 vol 689 cc528-31
8. Mr. Bence

asked the Minister of Power if he will consult the National Coal Board regarding the desirability of a reduction in coal prices in Scotland.

20. Mr. T. Fraser

asked the Minister of Power if he has had consultations recently with the Chairman of the National Coal Board about the desirability of reducing certain coal prices in selected areas; and if he will make a statement.

21. Mr. J. Hill

asked the Minister of Power if he is aware that traditional markets for coal are being lost to fuel oil in the east of Scotland adjacent to and within the Midlothian coalfield in consequence of the selective coal price increases imposed in Scotland two years ago; and if he will discuss with the Chairman of the National Coal Board the need for selective price reductions at an early date.

31. Miss Herbison

asked the Minister of Power if, in view of the greatly improved financial position of the coal industry in Scotland and in order to maintain the market for Great Britain's only indigenous fuel, what proposals have been put to him by the National Coal Board for a review of coal prices in Scotland.

Mr. Erroll

I would refer hon. Members to my reply of 28th November to the hon. Member for Motherwell (Mr. Lawson). I know that the Board is alive to the importance of securing a proper relationship between its costs and its prices and of maintaining its competitive power and markets in Scotland and elsewhere.

Mr. Bence

Will the right hon. Gentleman consult his Parliamentary Secretary, because the high cost of smokeless fuel is due to the cost of coal, and the cost of coal in Scotland is greater than it is in England? Will he see that the cost of the raw product—coal—in the production of smokeless fuels is reduced in Scotland so that people there can buy smokeless solid fuel for the same price as in England?

Mr. Erroll

I think that it would help the hon. Member if I reminded him that price changes are a matter for the National Coal Board to initiate.

Mr. T. Fraser

But is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that these selective coal price increases were announced in this House a little over two years ago by his predecessor? They were not announced by the Coal Board but by the Minister in order to placate some of his hon. Friends immediately prior to the discussion of the Coal Industry (Borrowing Powers) Bill on that day. Is he not further aware that there have been occasions when the coal industry in Scotland has failed to get contracts for heating or for certain appliances required by public authorities? Subject to the control of Ministers, about which there was a discussion in this House only last week, does not the right hon. Gentleman realise there is now a strong case for removing some of these selective price increases? Will not the right hon. Gentleman consult the Chairman of the National Coal Board to this end?

Mr. Erroll

There has been a great improvement in the fortunes of the Scottish coal industry in the last two years since selective prices came into operation, but the fact is that the Scottish coalfields are still not covering their full cost and it is still a question whether there should be a reduction in prices. This is a matter for the Coal Board to determine.

Mr. J. Hill

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that these selective price increases IA ere made two years ago and that our Scottish industries have been affected, especially the paper trade? Will he not again consider consulting the Chairman of the National Coal Board? The coal industry in Scotland is losing contracts to England because it is possible to import coal from England more cheaply than it can be bought in Scotland, owing to these selective price increases. Surely there is something wrong with that situation?

Mr. Erroll

We should remember that the coal industry receives a certain amount of protection from the oil industry and that there is a ban on coal imports. These two forms of protection help the industry, and within those protective limits it should find its own competitive level.

Miss Herbison

Is the Minister aware that everyone in Scotland is convinced that the Government played a very big part in the imposition of higher prices for coal in Scotland? Since that is so, will the Government now step in and consult the Chairman of the National Coal Board with a view to reducing the prices? Is the Minister also aware that coal is our only indigenous fuel and because of the increased prices the National Cal Board, which is doing an excellent job with the help of the miners who are at present employed in the industry, lost the contracts for providing central heating in two Scottish hospitals? Does not that worry the Government, in view of the fact that the unemployment figure is so high?

Mr. Erroll

The question of the hospitals is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. On the more general issue, the House must remember that before the price increases in Scotland the English pits were subsidising the production of Scottish coal. I do not think that hon. Members on either side of the House who represent English constituencies would relish a return to that state of affairs.

Mr. T. Fraser

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that some of the most profitable pits in British coalfields are situated within a stone's throw of Edinburgh and that the hospitals are not now to be fuelled by means of our indigenous fuel but by oil imported from the Middle East?

Mr. Erroll

Certainly. This is part of the problem. The very profitable pits to which the hon. Gentleman referred have to subsidise those in Scotland which are still operating at a loss.