HC Deb 22 July 1974 vol 877 cc1033-4
21. Mr. Newens

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on his policy on renationalisation of assets hived off from the National Coal Board, in cases where these have been closed down.

Mr. Eadie

As I have told my hon. Friend in reply to earlier Questions, we shall consider what action is needed in the light of the outcome of our examination of the future rôle of the coal industry. This must have priority in our work.

Mr. Newens

Will my hon. Friend confirm that the brickworks which were sold by the National Coal Board to private enterprise in accordance with the doctrinaire policies of the previous Government were profit-making bodies and that they have now been closed? Is it not a disgrace that assets such as the Whittlesey Central Brick Company should be dissipated? Does it not indicate that there is a much greater need for urgency about renationalising these assets if we are to be able to have them back into the hands of public ownership before they are completely gone?

Mr. Eadie

My hon. Friend is right. Hiving off was one aspect of the previous administration's policy. They hived off the assets that my hon. Friend has mentioned. My hon. Friend will agree that it is very important that we carry out the examination into the mining industry. We want to get that examination right first. No doubt we shall then come to the question that my hon. Friend has raised.

Mr. Skeet

As the hon. Gentleman is hiving off the assets of the National Coal Board in the North Sea, may we expect to see the end of all the argument about the hiving-off of assets?

On the question of the brickworks, will he take into account the ideas of the Chairman of the National Coal Board and others involved? He will probably then find that it is not a good idea to take the brickworks over again.

Mr. Eadie

I shall certainly bear in mind what the hon. Gentleman said, but it is stretching credibility too far to suggest that hiving off from one public industry to another public industry is equivalent to hiving off from the public sector to the private sector. If the hon. Gentleman was espousing a new philosophy from the Front Bench, my right hon. and hon. Friends and I shall very interested to take note of it.