§ Q2. Mr. Mike Thomasasked the Prime Minister when he last took the chair at NEDC.
§ The Prime MinisterI last took the chair at NEDC on 2nd February. In addition, on 22nd June I took the chair at a conference of representatives from the sector working parties and the economic development committees on the industrial strategy. This conference enabled the Government to hear the views of more than 100 leading trade unionists and managers. Strong support was expressed for the industrial strategy and there was discussion about such matters as overseas markets, import substitution, investment and productivity, relations between customers and users 1110 and communication at company level. Another similar conference will be held on 11th July.
§ Mr. ThomasIn regard to the power plant sector, on which my right hon. Friend has no doubt heard the views of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions about the prospects for a GEC monopoly of the industry, is he aware that his halo over Drax B is, like all haloes, only nine inches away from becoming a noose? In view of the urgency of the situation, will he give a firm undertaking that the Government will reach a decision on this much-prevaricated matter before the impending redundancies at C. A. Parsons and Babcock and Wilcox are implemented?
§ The Prime MinisterThere is an important difference of opinion here. The GEC management, the National Enterprise Board, the CPRS and the Government all take the view that the industry should be restructured if it is to have a long-term future. My hon. Friend is vehemently opposed to that and is supporting the workers of Parsons and the unions involved. However, that does not alter the nature of the argument and the Government must look at the long-term interests. We cannot enforce such a restructuring. I am glad that it is going ahead on the boiler-making side, but my hon. Friend has not been able to persuade his constituents in Parsons—if he has tried—that a similar restructuring of the turbo-generator side would be in their interests. As he has not done that and the Government cannot do it, we shall have to consider the future of Parsons against the present position and announce our decision as soon as we have reached a conclusion.
§ Mr. Tim RentonWhat positive contribution to industrial investment is being made by the sector working parties? Are not at least some of them simply talking shops?
§ The Prime MinisterWith respect to the hon. Gentleman, he is doing less than justice to the large numbers on both sides of industry who are giving their time voluntarily to these matters.
§ Mr. PowellThey are wasting their time.
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman may think so but the people 1111 involved do not, and it is their time and not the time of the right hon. Gentleman.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Opposition are barking up the wrong tree, or down the wrong alley, on this subject. I should like to encourage the Opposition to take off their party spectacles and look at the issues properly. At the conference that I held, the managers, industrialists and trade unionists involved all believed that it was worth while and should be carried down to company level. I expect to find a similar view on 11th July, and I should be happy if someone from the Opposition Front Bench would come to some of these conferences. He or she might learn one or two things.
§ Mr. AshleyIs my right hon. Friend aware that his own talking shop on industrial relations is one of the finest in the world, bringing together, as it does, employers and trade unions in a period of very grave industrial turbulence? He is to be congratulated on that because the present deadly situation can be solved only by the mixture of flexibility and firmness at which my right hon. Friend is so adept. Does he agree that if the Tories, with their dogmatic rigidity, returned to power, the country would be in an appalling industrial mess?
§ The Prime MinisterI accept what my hon. Friend has said and I wish that the Opposition would do the same. Looking at the analysis of the conclusions reached at my last meeting, I see that every subject was introduced either by a leading figure in the industry on the management side or by a leading trade unionist. They put forward a number of valuable suggestions and commented on what they were doing and what the Government should be doing. All these things help to promote the better atmosphere that British industry needs in order to get higher productivity. I hope that the Opposition will realise this and will join in.