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10.20 am
Mr. Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley): I shall not speak for too long because I know that many hon. Members want to take part in the debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) on securing this debate, which is timely in the light of the closure of Ellington pit.
Let us take our minds back a few years to when miners and their families and communities came to London in their thousands upon thousands. It is reckoned that those on the countryside march have since outstripped that number, although, at the time, the miners' march was certainly the biggest that we had known. The Tory Government did not take a blind bit of notice of the feelings of those miners and marchers. It is interesting that the Tories are now taking into account the concerns of those in the countryside in their communities, but that the miners were left to die at the wayside. Given what is happening now, the debate is a timely reminder of what happened then.
Today, the coal industry is in the throes of dying. Along with others, I plead for something to be done. We must remind ourselves that RJB Mining bought the industry at a give-away price. In fact, it would not be a bad idea to renationalise the industry at that price, give Mr. Budge his money back and tell him to go to Australia.
The crux of the matter is that Mr. Budge is investing thousands of pounds in an opencast mine somewhere in Australia and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wansbeck (Mr. Murphy) said, in mines in other countries, too. I wonder why. Is RJB Mining to become a core cartel? Will Mr. Budge, with the help of the Government and the Tories, bring an end to the coal industry in this country, so that he can import coal from Australia and all the other countries in which he is investing his money--money made by the British miners?
No Government subsidy has been given, so Mr. Budge can claim that he did not get anything from them--apart from cheap pits--nevertheless, it is unfair of him to ask for money to keep British mines open when he is investing his money abroad. It should be made very plain that this guy is ripping off British miners and taxpayers. It is unfair that the British taxpayer should be asked to give him money while he is investing it abroad.
The industry is a two-way business. Although it is not to our liking, the coal industry is privatised, so RJB Mining should put its money where its mouth is. At the moment, all it is doing is making a profit from the pits, but, as soon as they hit trouble--such things happen to pits; they are living things--they are closed. That is not good for the industry. Mr. Budge has a responsibility. He could meet the Minister and offer to invest millions of pounds in Ellington colliery, provided that the Government help out, but he does not want to do so. All he wants is to get his money, close the pits and be away to somewhere else. All we want is a partnership.
Mr. William Cash (Stone):
Those of us who voted against the pit closure programme remember extremely well the sound and fury at the time, not only against the Government but from Labour Members, who claimed that they believed in the coal industry. I shall not utter a word
For example, in his pre-Budget statement only yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer talked about the gas, electricity and water regulators promoting competition. What about the coal industry? I should like to hear a little about that. We know that the Chancellor has £9 billion in his so-called war chest. Why is he not using that money to help coal miners? Will somebody tell me? Will the Minister reply to that point, because I should like to know? On behalf of the miners, I am very angry with the Government because of their hypocrisy. Labour Members stirred up feelings while the previous Government were in office, but Labour, in government, is doing exactly the same as its predecessor. They are a bunch of hypocrites.
The Government are doing nothing to help. If Labour Back Benchers are not prepared to say this, I shall say it for them: the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh (Dr. Clark) on subsidies are absolutely true. It is possible for the Government to provide subsidies, but they will not do so. Can do, but will not is the truth of the matter. The miners are left to take account of that fact and to take it out on the Government for their complete failure to look after mining interests.
The European issue has also provoked sound and fury. I have just heard the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) talking about obeying the European rules. To do so may be one thing, but what are such rules supposed to achieve? We have problems at the moment with the French on beef, but on coal, the rules are wrong. They are canted and stacked against the British coal miner and the British coal industry.
Recently, in my constituency, a massive series of grants have been made in order, in the words of the Government representative, to capture what is known as the Grindley lane site for major investment. Such grants have been used to bribe and blackmail people into accepting the site. Up the road at Madeley, next to Silverdale, where the miners in my constituency have worked and slaved for years, but which is being closed--as is Trentham--not a penny of that money is being made available.
Mr. Eric Clarke (Midlothian):
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) on securing the debate and on his very able speech. I must declare an interest: I am a consultant to Scottish Coal. My speech will concentrate on the critical financial difficulties in which the Scottish coal industry finds itself due to the problems of delivering opencast coal to customers down south in England.
The problem arises from the fact that a rail company, EWS, has given priority to moving by rail foreign coal that is unloaded at the deep-water port of Hunterston. EWS has a near monopoly in handling bulk freight, and
has taken capacity from indigenous coal producers in order to satisfy the contract for imported coal. The loss of revenue to Scottish Coal from the sale--or non-sale--of coal costs £500,000 a week. The knock-on effect is obvious.
The coal produced in Scotland is low in sulphur and is blended with high-sulphur coal from deep mines in England, which makes the coal acceptable to generating units. The resulting cash flow problems in Scotland and England affect the viability of deep mines and miners' jobs.
The haemorrhage of money cannot go on. Foreign coal poses a threat due to the strength of the pound and direct and indirect subsidies by foreign Governments and multinationals. In South Africa, rail companies are subsidised to bring coal to ports. Polish coal subsidies have been mentioned, while in the case of Colombian coal, negotiations take place at the point of a gun.
If we are to have a coal industry in the United Kingdom, the Government must step in. All foreign coal is bought in American dollars, and that causes a balance of payments crisis. Every tonne of British coal that is burnt represents a saving to the Exchequer and a job in the UK. It is logical that the Government should take an interest, in the short term and the long term, if the coal industry is to survive.
Mr. Bill O'Brien (Normanton):
In the interests of brevity, I shall refer to just two issues that have been mentioned in the debate, and try to impress upon the Minister the need to consider seriously the issues that confront the industry. The first issue is that of jobs, which are influenced by coal stocks, as my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) said. Secondly, I want to draw attention to the interest in clean coal technology.
The Government could give assistance in both respects. The suggestion by my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone should be seriously considered. We should be helping the coal industry by allowing coal to be delivered to power stations at a price equal to that of subsidised imported coal. I see no difficulty with that, and I shall state my reasons.
The development and engineering of clean coal technology would be in the interests of the country, especially the mining industry. That technology is proven. We had the Grimethorpe scheme, which, incidentally, was sold by the previous Government when we were so near to success. That was a crime. It was a sin on their part. If they had not sold the scheme, we could have been operating that system now. However, it is not too late for us to pursue that option.
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