1163
Economic and
18 DECEMBER 1973
ECONOMIC AND ENERGY
SITUATION
[FIRST DAY]
Motion made, an! Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.-[The Prime Minister.]
Mr. Speaker: I have to inform the House that more than 80 hon, and right hon. Members want to speak in the debate, apart from the Front Benchers. Obviously there will be many disappoint- ments, but the shorter the speeches the fewer the disappointments.
4.9 p.m.
The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath): The House will be addressing itself during this two-day debate to the difficult and, indeed, grave situation facing the British nation. A is in view of this situation that I have been in communi- cation over the past two days with Premier Chow En-Lai and asked, with the deepest regret, to be allowed to post- pone my visit to China which was to take place in January, and he has agreed to this. I say ៥
with the deepest regret because I believe it would have been in the interest of our two countries as well
as in the national interest.
>>
The measures which were announced by me to the House last Thursday and by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor yesterday must be judged both on the extent to which they cope with our prob- lems and on the way they avoid damag. ing our national interest.
One first point I can make quite briefly. Nothing that is happening now, in the immediate present, in the short- term future, or in the longer term in any way decreases the imperative need for this country to expand its industrial capacity, and thus to be able to sustain economic growth. Indeed, the future outlook for the supply of energy and raw materials makes this more, not less, necessary. There have always been those who are opposed to a policy of growth because they do not mind the waste which comes from unemployment, and those who want the benefit of expansion without being prepared to accept the obligations of making it possible.
The right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues have
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never been prepared to recognise the burden bound to be placed on the balance of payments by the demands made by the re-equipping of British industry, and by its needs for fuel and raw materials in a time of expansion. But we cannot escape these demands on the balance of payments. We must be able to mect them if we wish to see
expansion, a reasonably low level of unemployment,
improving standard of living.
and an
If the measures announced yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer were to mean the end of the attempt to solve this problem, which has dogged the country for the past 25 years, it would indeed be a sad and bleak day for Britain. But that is not so. Private industrial development is not affected. The energy industries are exempt from the reductions in public expenditure. The overseas markets are there, and our exporters have the edge in price over our competitors. British industry needs to carry on with investment plans for expansion, and the Chancellor's measures will allow it to do so.
So
I now turn to those aspects of our problems which need more detailed treat- ment today. The supply of oil reaching our shores has been reduced, by up to 15 per cent. this month. But this in itself would not call for a drastic reduction in the consumption of electricity and a three-day working week in most of our industry. It would not have called for
that.
Mr. Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Ardwick) rose—————
The Prime Minister: These measures have been made necessary by the reduc tion in deliveries of coal to power stations which arise from the overtime bans in the coal industry and among the train drivers. We do not know how long the situation will continue. In this situa- tion the Government were bound to take the measures essential services and maintain a reason- necessary to safeguard
able level of industrial production. shall have more to say about those measures a little later.
For the moment I can only add that it will not be possible to reverse the mea- sures we have taken and restore warmth to our homes and full-time working for
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