HC Deb 09 December 1974 vol 883 cc6-8
3. Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will now make a further statement about the future of the steel industry.

Mr. Benn

My right hon. and noble Friend the Minister of State has made considerable progress with his review of the British Steel Corporation's closure proposals. I am not yet in a position to make a statement but will do so as soon as possible.

Mr. Ashley

Is my right hon. Friend aware that his statement that the safeguarding of jobs is the primary objective of the social contract was warmly welcomed on this side of the House and that the 2,000 steel workers in the Shelton Steelworks at Stoke-on-Trent are looking with great confidence to him to safeguard their jobs and remove the threat of unemployment held over them by the Conservatives when they were in office?

Mr. Benn

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for putting forward the views of the Shelton steelworkers whom I met when in opposition and with whom my noble Friend has kept in close contact. I assure my hon. Friends that all the discussions that have taken place have been designed to bring out the full weight of the arguments put forward by those who might be affected by the corporation's closure proposals.

Sir A. Meyer

Is the Secretary of State aware that, although there will be a very wide measure of approval for the great care with which the Government are examining the proposed closures, uncertainty is extremely damaging? Will he do everything he can to accelerate a decision?

Mr. Benn

I appreciate the problem of delay, although, in fairness, the hon. Gentleman will recognise that the joint steering group set up by the previous Government delayed the corporation's original investment plan by about two years. In the event we have authorised Redcar IIB, and there is only one other steel proposal before us now—that for Port Talbot—and that has been before us for only two weeks. We are trying to reconcile all the considerations with the closures the BSC has proposed.

4. Mr. Blaker

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what loans and grant have been approved by the European Communities for projects in the steel industry since 1st January 1973.

Mr. Benn

Since 1st January 1973 the European Commission has approved loans to the United Kingdom steel industry amounting to £41.85 million and grants in aid of steel research amounting to about £760,000. In addition the European Investment Bank has approved loans for steel projects amounting to £488 million. Loans and grants received to date amount in total to some £48 million.

Against this must be set some £8.2 million in payments by the United Kingdom to end-1974 under the steel levy, £17.9 million in entry fee in respect of the coal and steel industries and in addition the United Kingdom has contributed some £46 million to the capital and resources of the EIB.

Mr. Blaker

Will the Secretary of State confirm that most of these loans have been obtained at rates of interest which are several percentage points lower than the rates which would have had to be paid in normal circumstances on the open market? Is there any guarantee that if we were to leave the European Community we would not have to repay these loans without delay?

Mr. Benn

I take the point the hon. Gentleman makes, but he will not be under any misapprehension that the United Kingdom's net contribution is greater than the receipts and, therefore, this is part of a general arrangement and links inevitably with wider discussions that are going on in connection with renegotiation.

Mr. Hooley

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the European Communities are seeking to interfere with the freedom of the British Steel Corporation to expand its activities in highly desirable directions, and will he resist this tendency?

Mr. Benn

It is true that the European Commission, under powers derived from the treaties, has laid down as a condition that a British Steel Corporation acquisition of Johnson Firth Brown must be followed by a divestment of Beardmore in Glasgow and of the Manchester mill, and this raises very serious problems— not for me, but for Parliament.

Mr. Eldon Griffiths

As we are dealing with the steel industry, will the Secretary of State confirm that the BSC itself wishes to remain within the European Community? In the light of that, why does the Secretary of State want us to come out?

Mr. Benn

The hon. Gentleman, as usual, has got it totally wrong. The BSC is a public agency accountable to the House of Commons, as I am. My responsibility is to Parliament and I am, along with the members of the Cabinet of which I am proud to be a member, renegotiating in good faith for the British people to reach the final decision.