HC Deb 10 July 1974 vol 876 cc1340-2
8. Mr. Donald Stewart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has for assisting sea services to the Western Isles with a view to reducing the cost of living in that area.

Mr. Millan

During the current financial year, Government support for the sea services to the Western islands of Scotland will amount to about £800,000. Of this about £540,000 will be operating subsidy and about £250,000 grants and loans towards the modernisation of piers and harbours.

Mr. Stewart

I thank the Minister for that reply. Does he accept that in the Western Isles wages are lower than the national average and that the cost of living, mainly because of freight charges, is considerably higher than almost anywhere else in the United Kingdom? Since the Government have announced a massive subsidy for the railways throughout the mainland system, does the Minister not feel that the previous Government's withdrawal of subsidies on certain sections of the sea links to the Western Isles was a retrograde and callous step, and will he seek to put that right?

Mr. Millan

I am not responsible for anything done by the previous Government. The subsidies are still substantial. Of course, there is also the opportunity for local authorities now to make their own payments under the 1968 Act, and those payments are in turn heavily subsidised by the Government.

Mr. Grimond

Is the Minister aware that due the effect of freight charges, the cost of living in the islands of Scotland is considerably higher than in London? If London requires special treatment, why is that treatment not also given to these parts of Scotland?

Mr. Millan

There are special considerations in the case of London. Transport charges for the Scottish islands already receive considerable financial assistance. I shall be meeting the local authorities—if they are willing to meet me—next week to talk about these matters.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

Since millions of workers now have threshold agreements under which their wages go up according to the cost of living index, would it not be sensible at this stage to have regional cost-of-living indices, so that people's wages keep pace with the real costs which they have to face?

Mr. Millan

I am not sure that every region would welcome that. Threshold agreements are nothing to do with regional differentials in the cost of living and, anyway, they were introduced by the Conservatives and not by us.