North Sha Gas Belongs to the People

When the Fuel Policy White Paper was published last October, +t a large number of Labour Members of Peitlisti nt warned the pivecrinnns ee "it was not in the national interest to accept the growth of the use of oil as this would place a tremendous strain on the country's balance of payment. i Last year, we imported five million pounds worth of oil, over half of which was in competition with our own indigenous fuel "coal", It takes practic ally the whole export production of the motor industry to pay for this. The new Minister of Power hopes that natural gas from the North Sea and Yorkshire will reduce the oil imports and natural gas from overseas, and the Ministry's experts are now studying the problem. There is also a storm brewing over the price of our natural gas — the difference between the oil prospectors and the Gas Council ig being brought into the open. A few days ago the chairman of the Gas Council stated that “unless the North Sea gas was produced cheaply, a large amount might stay at the bottom of the sea, and that some people might even hope that it may stay there." It is rumoured that the private oil companies prospecting in the North Sea are unwilling to produce supplies unless they have a high price. By agreement with the government, British Petroleum obtained a price of 5d per therm, and it is claimed that this is three times more than they should have received. The valuable gas resources belong to the British people. They should never have been leased out to the oil interests. The government should agree to the demand of some Labour members of Parliament to take under public control this valuable national asset. Production of oil and gas, from whatever region of the country, should be for the use of the people and not for profit. While this wrangling goes on between the oil companies, the Gas Council and the government , very little attention is given and no heed taken of the drift of manpower from the coal industry. Through fear that there is no future in the industry, manpower has taken a dramatic slide in the last 12 months. On May 8, 1965, the manpower figures for the British coalfield were 472,696, and on May 7, this year, it was 431,186. During this period over 8,000 men . left the South Wales coalfield and this drift continues. In the south western division alone, there has been a reduction of 2,035 since March 31 to June 4 this year. If the present trend continues, manpower in the British coalfield will fall to 250,000 in 1970. Such consequences would be disastrous for the country. The full needs required in the National Plan would not be met, Already this year coal output is short by 8,500,000 tons, 170 millions against a requirement of 178 ,500,000. If oil is to fill this gap, it would further aggravate our balance of payments problem. It is not expected that natural gas will be made available to assist our fuel needs for at least another two years, and a fuel crisis is — now imminent and neither the union nor the board can do very much about it. It requires action by the government now. It must accept the proposals put forward by the union, Only in this way can we stave off what could be a very critical time for the nation.