HC Deb 15 April 1965 vol 710 cc1656-7
46. Mr. McMaster

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will refer to the Shipbuilding Inquiry Committee for special and urgent study the circumstances in which recent orders, such as those for large Shell tankers, have been placed abroad.

40. Mr. Gregor Mackenzie

asked the President of the Board of Trade what action he is taking to encourage the building of high-capacity tankers in this country.

Mr. Mason

A number of yards in this country are equipped to build tankers of up to 200,000 deadweight tons and I see no reason to take special action or to make a specific reference to the Shipbuilding Inquiry about their failure to secure particular orders. At present our yards are proving competitive over a large range of vessels and the competitiveness of the industry in the longer term is being studied by the Shipbuilding Inquiry Committee.

Mr. McMaster

Has the hon. Gentleman read the statement of Sir Maurice Bridgman and the statement of the Deputy-Chairman of Shell? Is he satisfied that the reduced investment allowances now available to British shipowners are sufficient to encourage them to build their boats in Britain? Are not these investment allowances also available if they build their boats abroad? Is the hon. Gentleman not aware of the great urgency of the situation and that we cannot wait until the Geddes Committee reports to maintain the flow of orders to British shipbuilding yards?

Mr. Mason

I understood that a Question on Shell and investment allowances was posed to my right hon. Friend earlier today and he replied to it. The hon. Member should be aware why these orders went abroad. They went particularly to the Japanese as they are well-equipped to build large ships, and able to offer better designs than British shipbuilders.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Is my hon. Friend aware that the root of the problem of the tankers is that the Japanese have no huge burden of defence costs and also that on the Clyde and in other places labour is used to build ships for the Navy and the shipyards cannot get skilled labour to carry out contracts in time?

Mr. Mason

I hope that my hon. Friend is not making speeches in Scotland trying to excuse the British shipbuilding industry solely because the Japanese have no defence burden.

Mr. McMaster

Is the hon. Gentleman not aware that the previous Answer on investment allowances is not satisfactory? Will he deal with this particular point? Is a British shipowner not able to obtain an investment allowance if he builds abroad? What advantage therefore is it to the British shipowner if he builds in Britain?

Mr. Mason

The Question refers to shipbuilders and not shipowners. As for the investment allowance, the hon. Member will have plenty of opportunity to discuss that on the Finance Bill.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

I beg to give notice that owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment.