RAILWAY WORKSHOPS (Hansard, 10 August 1966)

60. Mr. J. T. Price
To ask the Minister of Transport what action she proposes to take to implement the undertaking to remove the statutory restriction on the manufacturing powers of the publicly-owned transport industries, with particular reference to British Railways' workshops.

§ The Minister of Transport (Mrs. Barbara Castle)
With permission, I would now like to answer Question No. 60.
I shall make the necessary provisions as part of the comprehensive transport legislation, which I hope to introduce next Session.

Mr. Price
May I thank my right hon. Friend for the long overdue but very welcome statement which she has just made? Will she continue to use the good offices of her Ministry to ensure that the fullest use is made of all the equipment available in the British Railways' workshops which was paid for by taxpayers' money and much of which has been lost by the severe curtailment of their activities which has been called for under successive transport policies?
Will my right hon. Friend accept from me the thanks of my constituents in Horwich, the prosperity of which depends entirely on the success of railway workshops—[HON. MEMBERS: "Too long."]—and will she give them a fair crack of the whip to tender for private work when they have surplus capacity and make the fullest use of the public money paid on vesting day for these assets?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Supplementary questions on Questions asked after Question Time must conform to the rules of the House and be brief.

§ Mrs. Castle
The whole purpose of this legislation will be to enable the Railways Board to make the fullest use of what I agree with my hon. Friend is a very valuable national asset in which we have invested £18 million of modernisation money.

§ Mr. Peter Walker
Would the right hon. Lady confirm that the legislation which she proposes will not allow the railways to make acquisitions in general engineering disconnected with railway activity?

§ Mrs. Castle
The whole purpose of the legislation is to enable the railway workshops, in which the country has invested £18 million, to undertake other than railway work. At long last this will put the public sector on level terms with its private competitors.

§ Mr. Harold Walker
Is my right hon. Friend aware that today's announcement will be warmly welcomed in my constituency, where more than 1,500 railway workshop work men have been declared redundant over the last three years? Will she invite the Railways Board to anticipate the legislation with a view to halting the creation of a private monopoly in the manufacture of locomotives?

§ Mrs. Castle
The Railways Board cannot anticipate legislation, but I know that it is as concerned as I am to ensure that, even under the existing powers, the railway workshops are used to the full.

§ Mr. Peter Mills
Would the right hon. Lady agree that the first duty of the railway workshops is to maintain the locomotives, carriages and trucks at present in use? As the number of breakdowns, particularly in the Western Region, is enormous, this should be their first priority.

§ Mrs. Castle
Of course, the prime purpose of the railway workshops is to meet railway needs. But the extension of their powers by this legislation will enable them to take in other work to fill in troughs in demand which are bound to take place on the purely railway stock side? It will thus enable us to have greater continuity of work and a more efficient use of plant.

§ Mr. Ronald Bell
Does the right hon. Lady realise that if private people are put out of business by unfair competition there will be no taxpayers? Is that what she wants?

§ Mrs. Castle
I know that hon. Members opposite think that the only fair competition is that which unfairly ties the hands of nationalised industries. We on this side of the House believe in a little equality of opportunity between the private sector and the public sector.