§ 11. Mr. Douglasasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will attend the conference on North Sea oil arranged by the Scottish Council, Development and Industry.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellI have already arranged to do so.
§ Mr. DouglasWhen the right hon. Gentleman attends the conference, and when his hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Development takes the other conference on 14th February—an unfortunate clash of dates—will the people involved be told that we will not tolerate the high returns on capital invested that have been achieved on North Sea gas—80 per cent.—as a return on capital invested in North Sea oil? We expect North Sea oil to he a net contributor to our balance of payments position and we do not expect to experience a net outflow.
§ Mr. CampbellAll those matters will no doubt come up during the two-day conference. I shall be mainly concerned with the new North Sea oil industry and the benefits it can bring to Scotland.