Steel Making (Hansard, 20 December 1982)

§ 1. Mr. Coleman
asked the Secretary of State for Wales when he next intends to meet the chairman of the British Steel Corporation to discuss the future of steel making in Wales.

§ The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Nicholas Edwards)
I have been in close touch with the chairman recently and will remain so.

§ Mr. Coleman
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the population of Wales is 5 per cent. less than of that of the United Kingdom, and that since 1979 we have sustained 33.4 per cent. of the total job losses of the United Kingdom steel industry, 42.4 per cent. of the loss of steel production and more than 70 per cent. of the loss of steel making capacity? When the right hon. Gentleman meets the chairman of the British Steel Corporation, will he point those facts out to him as evidence of the way in which the British steel industry, particularly in Wales, has been haemorrhaging away? Are the reports that appeared over the weekend about investment in the steel plant at Port Talbot accurate? [HON. MEMBERS: "Speech".] It would be a most necessary morale booster to the industry.

§ Mr. Speaker
I hope that future questions will be briefer. Otherwise, we shall not even have half a dozen.

§ Mr. Edwards
I do not want to anticipate the statement to be made by my right hon. Friend later today. We have some of the most efficient and competitive steel plants in the country. The Oppostition's anxiety about the closure of major steel making plants has been strange in recent weeks. I know of no such proposals. The hon. Gentleman is right to emphasise the importance of on-going investment. I shall be happy to stand by the Government's record on that when all the information is available in the corporate plan.

§ Mr. John Morris
Was it the Minister or a member of his staff who briefed the Western Mail recently to the effect that a new hot mill for Port Talbot would be announced and claimed personal credit for the Minister's involvement in all meetings about steel over the past couple of months—but couple of months only? If the leak is true, why can there be no announcement, or are the Government still waiting for EC approval for the new mill at Port Talbot?

§ Mr. Edwards
The one person who clearly cannot claim any credit is the right hon. and learned Gentleman, from whom we have not heard a squeak about new investment in recent weeks. It is clearly true that investment and modernisation of steel plants is of the greatest importance. There is, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, a specific proposal from the British Steel Corporation for the modernisation of the hot mill at Port Talbot. The right hon. and learned Gentleman had better await the statement later today for the details.

§ Mr. Roy Hughes
Has the Secretary of State noted the chairman's oft-repeated remark to the effect that the industry's present predicament is due to the loss of home markets? If he has, why does he not, urge upon his colleagues the need to provide a measure of protection for some of our vital industries, particularly the car industry, because if that were to happen the fortunes of the steel industry would be changed overnight?

§ Mr. Edwards
The chairman has repeatedly made it clear that our competitiveness in the market generally at home and abroad is what is important in the British steel industry. I always find it extraordinary to hear the hon. Gentleman urging us to impose import restrictions, because I know that at least a dozen major international companies in his constituency depend on export business for a large share of the employment that they provide. I could list those companies if the hon. Gentleman is so ignorant that he does not know of them.

§ Mr. Grist
Does my right hon. Friend agree that, far from protectionism saving jobs, the protection of certain elements of our industry has made the British Steel Corporation less competitive, and therefore less able to preserve jobs in the industry and down market in the engineering industry?

§ Mr. Edwards
There is no doubt that the future of this industry, as of other industries, depends upon competitiveness. Nothing could be more disastrous to the British motor car industry, or other steel users, than if our steel industry were protected in such a way that industrial costs were raised generally.