Tractors (Hansard, 24 March 1982)

§ 7. Mr. Dalyell
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many tractors are in use in Scotland which are of foreign manufacture.

§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher
The latest Department of Transport information shows that at 31 December 1980 there were 45, 000 tractors of all kinds in use in Scotland. It is not possible to identify how many were of foreign manufacture.

§ Mr. Dalyell
In the extreme conditions of December and January, did not the Bathgate Leyland tractor perform better than all others?

§ Mr. Fletcher
I am afraid that no information is available on which one could make such a judgment. However, the hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that the Bathgate plant, which is being converted to engine manufacture, as he knows, will supply the engines to Marshall Sons and Co. Ltd. of Lincolnshire, which is taking up the production of the tractor facility from British Leyland.

§ Mr. Corrie
May I advise my hon. Friend, as he does not seem to know, that I have six British Leyland tractors in my company, and that there was never any trouble from any of them during the winter or summer months. They are a credit to those who built them, which is different from many imports.

§ Mr. Fletcher
I am delighted to hear that. I am sure that the House will want to know that the tractor industry in Britain is still one of the largest in the world, with output of about £860 million. It employs about 28, 000 people. However, it is heavily dependent upon exports. Unfortunately, in recent years British Leyland's tractor sales have fallen to only about 3 per cent. of United Kingdom output.

§ Mr. Buchan
The tractor ouput of this country is no thanks to Her Majesty's Government or the Minister. After what happened in Leyland and Massey-Ferguson, was it not the height of stupidity to allow the machinery and plant at Talbot to be shifted when it could have been used for tractor manufacture? Was it flogged to South Africa in order to be supplied to competitors there, rather than being used for British production? How much money was gained from that sale, and will the Minister ensure that it comes back to the community that his actions have devastated?

§ Mr. Fletcher
The hon. Gentleman is wrong to suggest that there was any deliberate sale of equipment to South Africa. It may have gone there, but the fact is that there was no company in the United Kingdom, including the nationalised British Leyland, that was willing to take over the Chrysler plant at Linwood. The Government have no power to intervene in the sale of equipment from that plant, which is no longer in use, to any other part of the world. With regard to the repayment of grants, any liability of the Talbot company to the Government on any item of plant will be collected by the Department of Industry.

§ Mr. Henderson
Is my hon. Friend aware that if tractors and cars were sold in this country at the prices at which they are available abroad, there would be a great increase in the home use of British-made tractors and cars? Is not such trading a great disadvantage to the dealers in tractors and cars?

§ Mr. Fletcher
One of our economic problems is not so much the shortage of demand for British goods as their shortage of supply. However, the tractor industry is still a large employer and a big producer in the United Kingdom. It depends heavily upon exports for most of its business. There is no reason to believe that that pattern will not continue under improved productivity and efficiency, which the tractor industry, like others, is now achieving.

§ Mr. McKelvey
Will the Minister tell the House how many Massey-Ferguson combine harvesters have had to be imported? Does he not now bitterly regret that the Government stood by and allowed the entire Massey-Ferguson plant to be shipped to France?

§ Mr. Fletcher
Of course I regret the closure of Massey-Ferguson at Kilmarnock, but I know of no remedy that the hon. Gentleman would offer. I do not think that even he, knowing his political views, would have suggested that the plant should have been nationalised, and that it should have inherited the same difficulties as other nationalised industries in Britain.

§ Mr. Myles
Does my hon. Friend agree that it is illogical to argue, as Opposition Members do, that the price of food should be kept down and that the farmers should not buy tractors in the cheapest market?

§ Mr. Fletcher
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The efficiency of British industry depends on a free choice in the market. That includes a free choice of tractors. The onus is on the rest of British industry to produce goods efficiently. That is now happening and is welcome to everyone.