Channel Fixed Link: Exports (Hansard, 12 March 1986)

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (The Earl of Caithness)
My Lords, by providing an improvement in communications between the United Kingdom and the Continent, the fixed link will improve the ability of British exporters to compete successfully in the large European market.

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, I should like to thank my noble friend for that Answer. Does he not agree that with the advent of the Channel tunnel, British industry's transport costs will be reduced, thereby enabling it to compete on an equal footing with our Continental competitors?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we hope very much that the transport costs will be reduced. We are, in fact, doubling the opportunities for British exporters. They are at the moment limited to air and ferry traffic. By permitting the Channel tunnel, we shall also be allowing road/rail traffic and pure rail traffic.

§ Lord Ezra
My Lords, in view of the advantages that the Channel tunnel will bring us, will the Government ensure, through the necessary improvement of our transport infrastructure, that all parts of the country can benefit and not only the South-East?

The Earl of Caithness
Yes, my Lords. We have touched upon this matter before in debates in your Lordships' House. Where British Rail and other forms of transport see advantages in using the whole country, I am sure that they will do so on a commercially justifiable basis.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, can the noble Lord say whether any comparable study has been made as to the effects on imports of the Channel tunnel?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we hope that, with this Government's help to industry, it will be the exports that matter. I am sure that British companies will rise to the opportunities that we can offer them.

§ Lord Geddes
My Lords, will my noble friend estimate what effect the construction of such a fixed link will have on British ports?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, as to the ports themselves, there is bound to be some effect, I think, on the short sea crossings in the Channel area. We believe, however, that the long-term effect on ports more distant from the Channel tunnel will not be as great as some people anticipate.

Lord Paget of Northampton
My Lords, is there any reason at all to believe that it will be cheaper to go by the Channel tunnel than to go by hovercraft? Is he aware that the estimates at the moment seem heavily in favour of the hovercraft?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we hope that by building the Channel tunnel we will offer four different opportunities for our exporters. The competition generated by four different forms of transport can only be for the benefit of this country.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, is it not the case that the major advantage of a fixed link relates not to road transport but to rail transport, and it is on that basis that we stand to benefit? Does the noble Earl not agree that the direct rail link between our industrial centres and the heartland of Europe is the important part of the Channel tunnel and that the shuttles and the passenger transport are totally peripheral to that?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right when he stresses the importance of rail traffic going through the tunnel. As my noble friend Lord Jellicoe, chairman of the British Overseas Trade Board, said this morning, Western Europe is by far the largest market for our exports and accounts for something like 58 per cent. of our total world exports, or £46 billion. I understand that the British Overseas Trade board feels that the Channel tunnel will assist our exporters. The noble Lord is right in what he says about the new opportunities for rail.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, is it not a fact that one of the assessment teams that worked on the Channel tunnel proposals was dealing with the possible economic consequences? Would it not have been helpful if we had had a detailed report from that assessment team in the same way that we have had a detailed environmental appraisal?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we believe that it is right for the potential investors to be offered the assessment of likely traffic and costs by those undertaking work on the tunnel, and not by the Government.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that I was talking about the whole economic aspect taking in the ports, the regions and the possible effect on imports? I gather that there was an assessment team dealing with the whole of this matter. Would it not have been helpful if we had had that sort of report to hand?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, it might have been helpful but, as the noble Lord will appreciate, it would have been wrong to release a lot of commercially confidential information contained in the assessment.

§ Lord Somers
My Lords, can the noble Earl give some details of what it is intended should be provided at this end of the rail system, what lines will be linked to the tunnel, whether traffic will go straight to a terminus, or what?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, much has yet to be decided and British Rail, together with potential concessionaires, are giving urgent consideration to the matter.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, since when have the economic consequences of this link been a matter of commercial confidentiality? Does not the whole country deserve to know what assessments have been made of the economic consequences?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I did not hear the noble Lord correctly. However, I think that even he would appreciate that a lot of this stuff was commercial and therefore confidential.

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, is it not a fact that this Channel tunnel was first conceived in the time of Napoleon and that if we had had another report, that would probably have delayed it for another 10 years?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, my noble friend is perhaps more optimistic than I am. I think that if we had had any more reports we might not have had the opportunities facing us at the moment.