§ 2. Mr. Robert Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the level of fishing vessel grants and subsidies.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs and Agriculture, Scottish Office (Mr. Alick Buchanan-Smith)A revised 533 subsidy scheme for the inshore industry was approved by the House yesterday. My right hon. Friend has no plans at present to change the arrangements for grants and loans for the construction of fishing vessels.
§ Mr. HughesDoes the Under-Secretary remember that in the flush of enthusiasm for killing off lame ducks the Government cut the development grant to the industry for new building by 10 per cent.? Now, having recanted in every other field of investment decision, why have the Government left the white fish industry as the only disadvantaged industry with the cut not restored?
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe hon. Gentleman is casting a very unfair reflection on the industry, bearing in mind that more applications have been received and approved in the first six months of this year than in the whole of 1970. The kind of picture which the hon. Gentleman presents is not true of the Scottish industry.
§ Mr. BuchanIs the hon. Gentleman aware that my hon. Friend did not paint a picture of the industry? He said that in every other industry these grants have been restored and no argument has been advanced for maintaining the present cut. This is what the Under-Secretary has to defend—not the fact that thanks to our subsidy basis in the past the industry is flourishing.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithI am surprised at the hon. Gentleman, particularly as he is a former Minister. There has never been a direct relationship between grants for fishing vessels and those available for development areas. It would be to the detriment of the fishing industry as a whole if the grants were on the same basis as for the development areas. The fishing industry is important on its own account; it is given its own treatment and it is not necessarily tied to other things.