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6.48 pm
The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Energy (Mr. Richard Page): It is customary at this stage of a debate to say that it has been interesting. However, apart from the dynamic speech of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and Energy, and the penetrating observations of my hon. Friends the Members for Castle Point (Dr. Spink) and for Ayr (Mr. Gallie), this debate has been par for the course. It has shown that the Labour party, like old Adam, has old Labour still lurking beneath the surface. Occasionally, through the thin veneer of new Labour, one or two honest souls popped up. For example, I found the speech of the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase) refreshing and enjoyable, although I do not think that it will do his career prospects any good.
If, somehow, we could have used the marvels of technology and each time the word "nuclear" was used put a line through it and used the words "British Telecom", the debate would have been indistinguishable from the debates of the early 1980s. I served on both the Committees concerning that privatisation, and they lasted
for more than 100 hours each. We split the telecommunications part from the Post Office, and then we privatised BT and created Mercury. The then hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme spoke for more than 100 hours in Committee. What did he do? He promised, like the rest of the Opposition Members, that privatisation would mean the end of the known world, that there would be cherry picking and a collapse of rural services. One got the impression that people would have to lay in green wood in order to communicate by smoke signals. What has happened? We have one of the most successful telecommunications companies in the world.
Not to be outdone, the right hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Orme) said that public telephone boxes would be threatened with extinction. Surprise, surprise, the number of telephone boxes has risen from 67,000 to 130,000, and 96 per cent. of them work, which would have been most unusual in the early 1980s.
I have found it rather distasteful that the role of the nuclear installations inspectorate has been continually queried in comments that have bordered on the insulting. The implication has been that the inspectorate would use the Nelson touch--turn a blind eye to the shortcomings and short cuts, and condone shoddy work practices.
Mr. Page:
With respect to the hon. Lady, there are only a few minutes remaining and I shall not give way, unless hon. Members want the debate to last until10 o'clock; I have enough material to talk until then if necessary.
What is new? When we privatised the regional water authorities, we were told that we could not trust the private sector. What has happened? The very opposite: prosecutions went up, the quality of water went up, and we now have some of the best quality water in Europe. There are more blue flags on our beaches than ever before. There has been a general rise in the standard--delivered by the private sector, where the public sector failed.
Some people accuse the Labour party of U-turns. I am not one of those, but I would say that it is exceedingly flexible. I know, for example, that, in government, it set in train a massive programme of building nuclear power stations. Now, in opposition, all that has changed. It is against nuclear power and tries to undermine the industry by scaremongering. Nothing that has been said today by Labour Members would give me confidence if I were working in the nuclear industry.
The Labour party has, however, been consistent in one aspect: it has consistently opposed every privatisation that could possibly have been implemented, from British Airways to British Energy. Labour has set itself against privatisation. It has always been against it, and always will be, because it is against free enterprise. Old Labour re-emerges time and again through the thin, sophisticated veneer that has been applied by the right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair).
Rather than praising British companies and their success, the Labour party has sought to decry them. Instead of praising the remarkable benefits to consumers of privatisation, it has wilfully ignored them, which is par for the course. The Leader of the Opposition said that it
was barely an issue that electricity prices would rise because of privatisation. As we all know, electricity prices have fallen in real terms. It is worth reminding the House that, under Labour, electricity prices rose by 2 per cent. in cash terms every six weeks. Labour said that there was no evidence that the Government's Gas Bill would produce cheaper gas, yet gas prices have fallen by about 20 per cent.
The hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) was foolish enough to say that a privatised British Airways would be the pantomime horse of capitalism if it were anything at all, yet British Airways is one of the most successful airlines--if not the most successful airline--in the world. Examples of such scaremongering roll on and on, but the facts show them to be wrong. It beggars belief that a party of dinosaurs has the nerve to call itself new Labour. Privatisation has been an enormous success.
Before I turn to nuclear privatisation, I must say that it is interesting to note that the Labour party's paymasters recognise a good thing when they see it. The GMB, which sponsors the odd hon. Member, and one or two of their Lordships in the other place, has £107,000 invested in British Aerospace, £201,000 in British Steel and £131,000 in Cable and Wireless. There are plenty of examples of where, having fought and argued against privatisation, the Labour party has joined it.
To build on that schizophrenia, the Labour party accuses us of rushing nuclear privatisation through, yet in the next breath it criticises us for taking time to consider properly the very thorough Trade and Industry Committee report. We will be replying to that report in the normal time limit allowed. We believe that the future of the nuclear industry deserves careful consideration rather than the instant, superficial soundbites favoured by the Opposition parties.
What are the Labour party's policies on nuclear power? I am afraid that I am no wiser after today's debate. In the view of Conservative Members, nuclear privatisation will encourage further improvements in efficiency and competitiveness and, like other privatisations, will produce real benefits to taxpayers through reductions in the levy, which in turn will produce further benefits for the consumer.
The Opposition have tried in every way possible to scaremonger about safety and have refused to accept the assurances of the independent regulator that there will be no reductions in safety standards. My hon. Friend the Member for Ayr quite rightly took the Labour party to task on that scaremongering. The hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) prayed in aid the words of Captain Killick. It might help hon. Members if they knew that the good captain did not at any time raise concerns about safety with the company, the NII chief inspector or any of the staff directly responsible to him when he was employed by Scottish Nuclear as director of safety. It is only since he left the company that those concerns have suddenly surfaced. As Captain Killick knows, Scottish Nuclear has an excellent safety record. In fact, he helped to achieve it. Safety is paramount at Scottish Nuclear, and will remain so.
The NII, the Government and the industry have all made it clear that safety will continue to be paramount and that the same rigorous regime will continue to apply after privatisation. I endorse the sense and sensibility of my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point.
Mr. Purchase:
Give him an Oscar.
In reply to the question about access to the pool after privatisation, I can say only that matters will continue as they are at present.
The Opposition have gone on and on about liability without making a single reference to the tremendous cost reductions that have been achieved in recent years. It is estimated that the UKAEA decommissioning and waste management operational programmes--Drawmops--for the three years after 1994-95 have been reduced by a staggering 40 per cent. My hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point also referred to the savings that have been achieved by British Nuclear Fuels. I hope that that encourages the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East, who also chipped in a few points about the savings achieved by the decommissioning programme.
The Magnox liabilities are currently in the public sector, and that is not going to change. What will happen, though, is that, through restructuring, there will be much a clearer focus on costs. I have every confidence that the creation of an independent Magnox company and its eventual integration into BNFL will cause a significant reduction in cost through greater efficiency in the management of liabilities. Has that not happened with all privatisations?
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