HC Deb 11 June 1984 vol 61 cc627-30
11. Mr. Greenway

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the miners' dispute.

4. Mr. Proctor

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the effects of the present dispute in the coal mining industry.

13. Mr. Knox

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will make a statement on the industrial dispute in the coal mining industry.

15. Mr. Eadie

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the current situation in the mining industry.

16. Mr. Parry

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the miners' dispute.

17. Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will make a statement about the miners' strike.

20. Mr. Chapman

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the miners' industrial dispute.

Mr. Peter Walker

Each day more men return to work in the coalfields and over 50 pits are still producing coal. Nevertheless, the present dispute is continuing to damage the coal industry's prospects and weaken the confidence of its customers. The board is also increasingly concerned at the physical condition of individual collieries. To date, employees have lost over £270 million in wages as a result of the industrial action.

Mr. Greenway

Is my right hon. Friend aware that several ASLEF members in my constituency are risking their future by refusing to pay an ASLEF-imposed levy for the miners' strike because they object to Mr. Scargill's failure to hold a democratic ballot on the strike and to the failure of their union to hold a ballot on the levy? Is it not a fact that no mining jobs are at risk? Is it not outrageous that the jobs of some of my constituents are at risk because they demand democratic procedures from unions?

Mr. Walker

Yes. A considerable movement of coal by rail has taken place during the strike, because railwaymen have accepted a pay offer less than that offered to the miners. Railwaymen have suffered in the past because of redundancies, whereas no miners face compulsory redundancy.

Mr. Knox

Can my right hon. Friend think of anybody who is benefiting or is likely to benefit from the dispute?

Mr. Walker

Yes—those who compete with coal as a form of energy supplied to industry.

Mr. Eadie

The Secretary of State told us earlier about scripts. Will he tell some of his hon. Friends that they should rewrite their scripts because the party and the propaganda warfare are over? The miners' strike is extremely damaging, not just to the miners, but to the nation. What is the right hon. Gentleman doing to bring this damaging dispute to an end? Does he agree that we need a settlement so that the nation and the miners can get back to work?

Mr. Walker

The hon. Gentleman knows better than most that talks have taken place between the NUM and the NCB. Further talks took place last Friday. As a result, both sides considered it important to continue the talks this week. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will use his considerable influence in that sphere to ensure that the realities of the scene are recognised by miners so that the talks this week will succeed.

Mr. Parry

Will the Secretary of State ask the Prime Minister to come to the Dispatch Box and explain why she deliberately misled the House on the intervention by the Government—

Mr. Speaker

Order. No right hon. or hon. Member deliberately misleads.

Mr. Parry

Will the right hon. Gentleman ask the Prime Minister to make a statement tomorrow on the Government's intervention? Will he confirm the claim by my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn) on Thursday about armed forces' facilities being put at the disposal of the police during the dispute?

Mr. Walker

To suggest that the armed forces are involved in the dispute is nonsense. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will, of course, be answering questions tomorrow and on Thursday, as always. Nothing would delight her more than for the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mr. Parry) to be called to ask a supplementary question.

Mr. Canavan

Will the Secretary of State confirm that he personally was aware of the contents of the secret messages between Downing street, the Department of Transport and the chairman of British Rail? Is it not about time that Ministers told the truth about how they have conspired to manipulate the strike for their own political ends in a senseless vendetta against the miners, instead of doing what they should be doing — intervening constructively to stop unnecessary pit closures and thereby helping to bring about a peaceful end to the strike?

Mr. Walker

I am glad to say that the Government conspired to ensure that there was enough money with the NCB to make a decent pay offer and a massive investment programme, and that not one miner was made redundant.

Mr. Chapman

In order to put the employment aspects of the dispute into a proper context, will my right hon. Friend say how many miners will be made compulsorily redundant if the NCB is allowed to implement its present plans, and how many have forcibly been made redundant in, say, the past two or three years?

Mr. Walker

None.

Mr. Lofthouse

The Secretary of State will be aware that his hon. Friend the Member for Elmet (Mr. Batiste), in last Thursday's debate, said that two pits in the west Yorkshire coalfield, Ledston Luck and Saville, would be closed in the very short term, and that the Alderton Bywater colliery, as a direct result of the dispute, was on the list for closure? Will he confirm or deny that information given by his hon. Friend?

Mr. Walker

I do not know the answer. If I may, I shall let the hon. Gentleman know the answer later this afternoon.

Mrs. Currie

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the time has come to recognise the efforts of nearly 50,000 miners who have been at work throughout the dispute? Does he realise that a large number of my constituents are now owed up to £400 each, as are many miners in neighbouring constituencies, such as Bolsover? Will my right hon. Friend take steps to ensure that the men who have beem working will be paid on account, and preferably before the holiday?

Mr. Walker

I understand the views of my hon. Friend on the subject. Certainly one has admired the manner—in spite of intimidation on a considerable scale — in which people have gone to work. I hope for their sakes that there will very quickly be an agreement so that they, together with many other miners throughout the country, can enjoy the substantial back pay that is available to them.

Mr. Dormand

Is the Secretary of State aware that five weeks ago the Under-Secretary of State told me, in answer to a parliamentary question, that there were not only sufficient coal stocks to carry us through to the autumn but enough to carry us into next year? Does the Secretary of State agree that that is the present position? Will he also say whether he thinks that the lack of stocks, or the diminution in them, is now affecting the economy?

Mr. Walker

I repeat that the stocks are running down at the rate of about 1 million tonnes every three or four weeks. On that basis, the stocks would carry us through into next year. The position depends on the future flow of coal stocks, the amount of production, and a range of other matters. But certainly on the present trends that would be the possition.

Mr. Dormand

What about the effect on the economy?

Mr. Walker

Of course the miners' strike is bad for the economy. I hope that those who are on strike, without having had the opportunity to ballot, will recognise that.

Mr. Favell

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the Government's landslide victory in June 1983 demonstrated widespread understanding of the Government's intent to make British industry more competitive, despite a great deal of sacrifice by a great many people? If the NCB now caves in to Arthur Scargill, there will be widespread anger.

Mr. Walker

What the NCB is endeavouring to do is very much in the interests of the future of the mining industry and the future prosperity of miners. Those miners who have had the opportunity of a ballot have shown that that is also their view.

Mr. Orme

Did the Secretary of State see the correspondence with the chairman of British Rail, and the correspondence between the hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) and other Departments, or was he completely excluded from those exchanges? It seems extraordinary.

Mr. Walker

I have a large amount of correspondence flowing through my office. [Interruption.] I am sure that, as a member of various economic committees of the Cabinet, I have seen a great deal of correspondence concerning the railway wage claim.