§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Industry if, in light of the recent meeting of Common Market steel Ministers and the revised survival plan from the chairman of the British Steel Corporation, he will 501W consider recommending the closure of plants for particular periods of the year as an alternative to plant closures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Butcher[pursuant to his reply, 29 November 1982, c. 28]: Temporary plant closures are certainly one means of dealing with a short-term decline in demand, but they cannot resolve the fundamental problem of excess steel capacity in Europe, which can only be cured by permanent plant closures elsewhere in the Community to match the closures we have already undertaken.