Examination of Witnesses (Questions 440
- 442)
WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2006
MR NICK
VANDERVELL AND
MR MALCOLM
WATSON
Q440 Mr Chaytor: If it was 60 years
or even longer it must be in the interests of your industry and
your members that the more there is concern now through fiscal
measures or more stringent requirements of engine design, it gives
your industry a longer life-span because otherwise there is the
possibility of people leaving school and joining the industry
now and there will be no industry there by the time they are approaching
retirement.
Mr Watson: If the lower estimate
was correct, yes.
Q441 Mr Chaytor: What I am saying
is I cannot understand why you are so relaxed about issues of
government fiscal policy?
Mr Watson: I did not see we are
relaxed about them.
Q442 Mr Chaytor: But you are not
actively lobbying for something that in the long run would preserve
the life of your industry.
Mr Watson: What we are saying
is that we will be proposing to the Government in the near future
a joint task force. We should go away and discuss all these issues
properly as a contribution towards the UK setting a sensible long-term
energy policy, for exactly the reasons you say. We are not complacent
about it. We have to engage with government to make it happen,
and ultimately it is their choice.
Chairman: Thank you very much. We are
grateful to you for coming. There are one or two points of clarification
which you are going to let us know about too.
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