§ Mr. Donald Dewar (Glasgow, Garscadden)I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely,
the closure threat to Scott Lithgow on the lower Clyde.The matter is specific because the future of a very important yard depends almost entirely on a contract between Britoil and British Shipbuilders. That contract is not just in jeopardy, but is said to have been cancelled and will remain a closed issue unless Ministers act speedily and energetically.The issue is important because 4,400 jobs are at risk, and, indeed, 8,000 jobs may be at risk if the knock-on effect is taken into account and if the threatened catastrophe is allowed to run its course.
The issue is also important because if there is a cancellation it will signal a messy retreat by this country from a key area of technology in the North sea. The House will be aware that recently the Secretary of State for Scotland drew some comparisons between the work force on the lower Clyde and what he was pleased to call coolies recruited in the paddy fields of Korea. Some of us thought that that was a rather tasteless comparison. However, if the cancellation goes ahead it will give the biggest possible boost to competitors from the far east and elsewhere.
The matter is urgent because the crisis is now entering a key phase. This issue does not follow the sadly familiar pattern in which redundancies arise because there is no market and no orders. Scott Lithgow has a customer and there is work which, in the national interest, cries out to be done, but still jobs are threatened.
When my hon. Friend the Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow (Dr. Godman) and I saw the chairman of British Shipbuilders recently, he did not challenge the importance of the issues. He made it clear that there was no prospect of immediate progress because of his organisation's cash position. Despite that, Ministers are refusing to act and continue to claim that the matter must be left to commercial negotiations.
During the recess it became conclusively clear that no such negotiations were taking place and that, without a Government initiative, they would not take place. In those circumstances, the Opposition believe that it is important for the House to debate the present policy of inaction, which appears to us to be as callous as it is misconveived. Shipbuilding on the lower Clyde is drifting towards disaster, and we seek to impress upon the Government the need to act now, even at this late stage, to avert disaster in an area which has already been pillaged by the recession. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I hope that you will consider the application sympathetically.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) asks leave to move the Adjournement of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he thinks should have urgent consideration, namely,
the closure threat to Scott Lithgow on the lower Clyde.I well understand the crucial importance of the matter to Scottish Members and, indeed, to the nation, but I regret that I have to give the hon. Member the answer that I gave to his hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, 25 East (Mr. Prescott). I do not consider that the matter is appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 10 and I cannot, therefore, submit his application to the House. No doubt there will be other ways in which he can raise this important matter.