§ 28. Mr. Alisonasked the Minister of Power whether he has considered the proposals for a slower run-down of the coal industry made in the Brookings Institution study, Britain's Economic Prospects, extracts from which have been sent to him; and what steps he plans to take on the proposals.
§ Mr. MasonThe energy section of the Brookings' Report was written before the publication last November of the Fuel Policy White Paper. The Report fails to recognise that more is being done now to slow down the contraction of the coal industry than has been done by any other Government.
§ Mr. AlisonDoes the Minister appreciate that the Brookings Institution Report throws at least some reasonable doubt on the wisdom of the Government's proposed rate of run-down of economic 685 pits between 1970–75? In view of the fact that the run-down will have catastrophic results in the Yorkshire Coalfield where there are very few alternative employment opportunities, will he give the coal industry benefit of doubt on the Report?
§ Mr. MasonNo, I will not. As I said, the Brookings Report came out before I the Institution had available the analysis we made and the papers we prepared for fuel policy. There have been three independent reports since 1966, the P.E.P., the E.I.U. and the Brookings and they all came to different conclusions.
§ Mr. RidleyWould the right hon. Gentleman agree that if the Government pursued their own policy of adopting long-term marginal costing for coal the price of coal would go up and the rate of decline in the coal industry would therefore increase?
§ Mr. MasonThat is not necessarily true, but we shall wait to see what the Coal Board says about long-term marginal costing when it has put forward its new pricing policy.