HC Deb 11 June 1984 vol 61 cc634-5
23. Mr. Adley

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement about the industrial dispute in the coal industry.

Mr. Peter Walker

I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to question No. 11 in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway).

Mr. Adley

Referring back to that answer, and comparing the position with that in previous years. will my right hon. Friend confirm that between 1964 and 1970, under the Labour Government, more than 250 pits were closed and more than 200,000 men left the coal mining industry as a result? If those figures are accurate, is it not clear that Mr. Scargill, with his Marxist friends such as Bruce Kent and some Opposition Members, is indulging merely in party politically motivated hypocrisy?

Mr. Walker

Throughout the whole post-war period there have been substantial numbers of pit closures. In the last three years of the Labour Government there were 17,000 voluntary redundancies. I am pleased to say that terms and conditions for such people are now better than ever before.

Mr. Orme

Will the right hon. Gentleman now answer my earlier question? Did he see the correspondence referred to in the Daily Mirror with the chairman of British Rail and the chairman of the Conservative party, or did he not?

Mr. Walker

Having read Mr. Paul Foot's piece in the Daily Mirror, and noted the correspondence, I can only say that if I did not see it I do not regret not having seen it, and if I did see it it was so unimportant that I do not remember it.

Later—

Mr. Douglas

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will have heard the exchanges during Question Time, and we accept your ruling that no hon. Member deliberately misleads the House. However, there is a very narrow distinction between deliberately misleading the House and not giving the House information that is in the possession of the Minister.

Through your good offices, Mr. Speaker, can we prevail on the Secretary of State for Energy to search his memory and, indeed, his files to see whether the correspondence to which we referred is in the possession of his office and whether he has seen it? Given the posture that he is adopting, or is likely to adopt, during this dispute it is important that accurate, detailed, honest and truthful information be given to the House.

Mr. Speaker

Clearly that is not a matter for me. I simply remind the House that we are all honourable Ladies and Gentlemen and that no one deliberately misleads in this place.