HC Deb 16 May 1973 vol 856 cc1493-5
14. Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what study he has given to the latest report of the Scottish Council (Develop- ment and Industry) regarding the impact on regional policy of capital expenditure programmes on airports, seaports, roads and rail services in the south-east of England; and if he will make a statement regarding the policy of Her Majesty's Government.

Mr. Rippon

The council's report has not been submitted to the Government, though I have been given a copy on request. I can see nothing in current expenditure programmes which is inconsistent with regional policy.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

Does not my right hon. and learned Friend consider that at a time when the assumed growth of public expenditure is in obvious and urgent need of some control the expenditure of thousands of millions of pounds on long-range capital programmes in the southeast of England is all too liable to lead to demands for countervailing expansion of expenditure by, for example, the Minister for Industrial Development in other parts of the country, which will lead to a vicious circle of still more rising expenditure?

Mr. Rippon

That report has still to be considered by the council. I do not believe that what my hon. Friend has said arises out of consideration of that report. On the whole, we have dealt as generously as possible with Scotland. It is a mistake to imagine that because a project in one part of the country is halted another is necessarily helped.

Mr. Ford

Is the Secretary of State aware that there is grave disquiet throughout the regions about the scale of the resources—in terms not only of finance but of labour and expertise—which are being diverted to such projects as the Maplin Airport development and the Channel Tunnel? Is he further aware that the House was conned by the Government over Maplin because they signally failed to provide detailed evidence of the necessity for, and the detailed costings and economics of, this project?

Mr. Rippon

I do not accept any of those propositions. This Government, like their predecessors, have been very conscious of the need to have balanced public expenditure programmes of the sort that benefit the economy as a whole, and therefore the regions, but we have always had particular regard for regional considerations over many years. Indeed, it was the Conservative Government in 1963–64 who really set in hand the regional development policies, particularly in the North-East, Scotland, and elsewhere.