British Coal (Hansard, 7 November 1988)

§ 1. Mr. Gow
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what progress he has made with his plans to denationalise British Coal; and if he will make a statement.

§ 2. Mr. Rost
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he plans to allow more private sector involvement in United Kingdom coal production.

§ The Secretary of State for Energy (Mr. Cecil Parkinson)
We intend to privatise the coal industry after the next general election. We are currently considering the options; no decisions have yet been made.

§ Mr. Gow
Is my right hon. Friend aware of the very strong support for his proposals, not only among Conservative Members, but among those who work in the mining industry, and notably among a growing number of members of the National Union of Mineworkers? Will he confirm that the Bill to privatise the British coal industry will be introduced in the first Session of the new Parliament?

§ Mr. Parkinson
I can tell my hon. Friend that we shall come forward with a Bill as soon as possible in the new Parliament. Whether that will be in the first Session depends on a number of factors, but it will be very early in the new Parliament and the industry will be privatised in the first half of the new Parliament.

§ Mr. Rost
If privatisation has to wait until after the next election, can we at least have confirmation of assurances that there will be some liberalisation of the rather tight coal monopoly in the immediate future by amending the nationalisation Act to allow the private sector at least to become involved in competition with the nationalised industry as a first step to full privatisation?

§ Mr. Parkinson
I know that a number of people have been promoting that idea. I should prefer to tackle the problems of the industry as a whole and to come forward with proposals in the next Parliament for the ultimate liberalisation, which is the privatisation of the whole industry.

§ Mr. Hardy
Will the Secretary of State comment on recent reports that there is keen interest in a management board buy-out of British Coal? Even if he were to confirm that interest, would he maintain the position that he has just stated, which is that there will be no privatisation before the next election and no attempts to prepare the way so that, if the country is unfortunate enough to have a Conservative Administration after the next election, the work will not have been largely done?

§ Mr. Parkinson
I can give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that he seeks. There will be no attempt at partial or back-door privatisation in this Parliament. The issue will be placed firmly before the British people and we look forward to the Leader of the Opposition, accompanied by Mr. Scargill, touring the country opposing the proposal at the next election.

§ Mr. Lofthouse
Is the Secretary of State aware that his hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Gow) is completely out of touch with the views of miners if he thinks that they support privatisation? Is he aware that miners in this country are familiar with the accident rate in the private sector of American mines, which gives a ratio of four to one compared with British mines, and that, in view of the previous safety record of privatised British mines, they fear a return to privatisation which will see a deterioration in the safety record of the mines compared with that of British Coal? Will he give us an assurance that that will not happen?

§ Mr. Parkinson
I can tell the hon. Gentleman that there will be no lessening of the regulations governing mine safety. I hope that he draws the pleasure that I do from noting that, in recent years, the increase in productivity has been accompanied by a fall in the number of accidents, giving the lie to the argument that one can achieve improved performance only by putting people's lives at risk.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that, despite the scare stories often put about by the leader of the National Union of Mineworkers that productivity has a trade off with safety, nationalisation does not mean safer mines, and has nothing to do with safer mines, and there is no need for any fears about the safety of the British coalmining industry, whether in the nationalised or the private sector?

§ Mr. Parkinson
Let me repeat what I said to the hon. Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Mr. Lofthouse). There will be no lessening of the regulations governing safety, regardless of ownership. The coal industry has been giving the lie to one of the favourite truisms pushed about by the Labour party, which is that we can improve performance only by risking lives. We have been achieving better performance and fewer injuries, and that is the proof that the Labour party is wrong.

§ Mr. McCartney
Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Opencast Executive will not be privatised as a single unit before denationalisation of the whole industry? 4 Does he intend to wait until that time and then have it denationalised either as a single unit or part of a regional denationalisation?

§ Mr. Parkinson
I have already told the House that we have no detailed plans. We have looked carefully at a range of options and shall be working out those options still further. The management buy-out mentioned by the hon. Member for Wentworth (Mr. Hardy) is one of the very interesting possibilities. That is not ruled out, but we are looking at the whole range of options.