Finally, I should like to say a word or two about the Immediate Energy Crisis.

Reading the signs, one imagines that there will be an Energy Crisis within the next decade if we continue to use our resourcesat the present rate.

Does the Secretary of State agree that in a probably worldwide situation of fast-approaching Energy Crisis, despite the oil discovery of this week, nuclear reactor policy must be taken as part of a total energy strategy and Britain must use all its indigenous resources?

We all know - that was said by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry at the Conservative Party Conference last week; it was said by a Shell spokesman no less only yesterday, and I quoted this in an intervention in the speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Anglesey; it is not only my argument; it is an argument well known to anybody who reads any reports about the energy supply situation - that we shall rely less in future on long haul oil, first because we have this bonanza in the North Sea which is helpful to the balance of payments and that would come, if it came by sea, on short haul, not in super tankers; and, second, those of us who read the newspapers know full well that there is a Major Energy Crisis in the United States, that the United States is running out of its own oil supplies, that it is having to turn to the Middle East, and that the moment the United States becomes a competitor against us in the Middle East for oil it will get the oil and we will not.

We all know - that was said by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry at the Conservative Party Conference last week; it was said by a Shell spokesman no less only yesterday, and I quoted this in an intervention in the speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Anglesey; it is not only my argument; it is an argument well known to anybody who reads any reports about the energy supply situation - that we shall rely less in future on long haul oil, first because we have this bonanza in the North Sea which is helpful to the balance of payments and that would come, if it came by sea, on short haul, not in super tankers; and, second, those of us who read the newspapers know full well that there is a major Energy Crisis in the United States, that the United States is running out of its own oil supplies, that it is having to turn to the Middle East, and that the moment the United States becomes a competitor against us in the Middle East for oil it will get the oil and we will not.

When he spoke earlier about this massive oil find being a reason why oil was not imported, I totally disagreed with him, because I believe that the coming Energy Crisis means that we must have a much stronger and more viable coal industry.

We are of the opinion that the maximum use should be made of indigenous resources in view of the growing Energy Crisis developing in the world, which the right hon. Gentleman acknowledged in his statement.

They are saying "We recognise, however, that the prospects for an Energy Crisis in the 1980s are real, and for this reason the rate of contraction of the coal industry must not be allowed to accelerate as it otherwise would".

In the Evening Standard of the same date there was a report by Alan Massam that:One of Britain's leading long-range planning experts believes the country is fast moving into an Energy Crisis'.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we are in an Energy Crisis?

Faced, as we are alleged to be, with an Energy Crisis of terrifying dimensions, neither Europe nor America seems to give any thought to the vulnerability of their oil supplies either from instability in the Gulf, where the oil comes from, or from interruption at sea in the long haul round Africa.

The Energy Crisis makes the energy problem all the more urgent.

In view of the Energy Crisis which is bound to occur in the next 10 or 15 years, will the Government make a statement about what will be done for the coal mining industry?

Members have heard much talk recently - and much concern has been expressed - about the so-called Energy Crisis.

When I spoke in the foreign affairs debate in December I talked at length about the Energy Crisis and referred to the prediction made by the Director of the State Department's Energy Division that by 1980 at least one-third of the United States fuel needs would have to be met by Arab countries.

The effect of this for us in the West, and for Japan, will be to precipitate the Energy Crisis even more quickly than has been suggested.

The Government consider that talk of an Energy Crisis frequently overlooks new discoveries and sources of energy.

First, you cannot just transfer resources by the wave of a nonexistent magic wand into fighting the Energy Crisis, any more than space engineers can immediately build hospitals, schools and homes.

My hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and I for a number of months have been making it clear that we do not regard it as an Energy Crisis.

There is a lot of talk in the House about the Energy Crisis.

How will he solve the Current Energy Crisis which Britain is facing if the pits cannot keep their men?

The Energy Crisis has not happened because of the present tragic events in the Middle East and it will not end should we be fortunate enough to find a solution to them.

Members have referred to the Energy Crisis.

When a situation such as the Energy Crisis, accelerated by the Middle East conflict, arises the Government find themselves struggling to accelerate the process but they lack a viable instrument with which to do so.

I praise the United States for its decision to invest 500 million dollars in research into the Energy Crisis.

After three-and-a-half years of deepening disaster the Government now enter their last full term with a Gracious Speech which scrapes the bottom of the barrel but ignores all the major problems which hon. Members know will occupy most of their time in the next 12 months - problems such as the Energy Crisis which we have just been discussing, the balance of payments and, above all, the problem of inflation.

Many of us suspect that they are only waiting for the Energy Crisis to make yet another U-turn.

The second threat which I see is that of the Energy Crisis which is facing us.

The pending Energy Crisis could completely distort our planning, our policies and our future.

There are equally grave gaps in their policy towards the Energy Crisis in the long term as well as the short term.

Indeed, if one considers only the Energy Crisis and the exploitation of the North Sea by the oil companies, who will be charging the Middle Eastern posted price and pocketing the profit, if one looks at the effect of the energy crisis at home, with the transfer from private transport to public, if one looks to see what will be needed in terms of public investment by the Steel Corporation, the Coal Board, or the Gas Corporation, one sees that the energy crisis, far from weakening the case for public ownership, makes it much stronger.

As this country is in an Energy Crisis, may I ask my hon. Friend to take a leaf out of the American book and encourage the private sector to enter further into mining to produce the coal required for electricity?

It is a funny thing: the Secretary of State warns us about an Energy Crisis, which I think is very serious, but in facing that crisis the Government are not exactly being even-handed.

This enables us to debate the Energy Crisis, to consider the whole problem nationally and internationally, and to place the miners' case before the Government, as the hon. Member for Cannock tried to do, before the situation deteriorates further.

If we land ourselves in an Energy Crisis, theirs will be the blame.

We have all talked about the Energy Crisis which we face in the coming weeks and months, but the subject is also being debated in the shadow of a much more serious, long-term energy crisis.

We need it so that we may discuss the Energy Crisis that confronts the British people and may very well confront the world.

We are in an Energy Crisis.

They would have said, "We are in an Energy Crisis in which oil is vital.

Speaking on television about the Energy Crisis, President Nixon said that they would find cheaper ways of converting coal into oil.

As the Minister must now confess that we have an Energy Crisis and not an energy problem, which was what Government Front Bench spokesmen were fond of saying even so short a time ago as July, can he tell us what the Government are doing to gather information about our indigenous energy supplies?

Does the hon. Gentleman therefore envisage the Energy Crisis in the short term leading to a situation in which there is less participation by British industry in this market for services and equipment?

It was the miners who get the blame for the Energy Crisis, not the shortage of oil.

The Energy Crisis will precipitate a need for a massive new investment programme in all indigenous fuels, in fuel-saving equipment and in public transport, as we move away from, perhaps, the unrestricted use of the private car.

In an interesting analysis of the relevance of this debate to the Energy Crisis, the right hon. Member for Bristol, South-East suggested that probably the problem would be solved only by some form of public sector policy, or by public authorities.

He said,I refer to the threat of an Energy Crisis.

If it is right, as he said, that the life and functioning of the State are at stake, surely we on this side of the House are entitled to deplore the present action of the miners, because it follows that if we face an Energy Crisis the situation in the pits is also a threat to the life and functioning of the State and, therefore, to the well-being of every man, woman and child in it.

Optimism about the outcome of the Energy Crisis can still be found in the most unlikely places - although it seems to have left the Stock Exchange in the last few few days.

In speaking this afternoon, I wish to concentrate on the shorter-term problems of the Energy Crisis.

There is no point in replacing an Energy Crisis with a radio-active crisis.

I confide in you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, my sense of horror that somehow, as the Energy Crisis hits Britain, the people who are being vilified more than any others are the miners, when they were the people who, earlier than any others, identified exactly the nature of the crisis that would confront us.

I refer to the long-term effect of the Energy Crisis on the hopes for growth.

The Energy Crisis has created an appalling situation in the Common Market.

and to 145 what extent these talks included matters relative to the Present Energy Crisis.

Mr. Arthur Lewis asked the Prime Minister if he will instruct all Ministers 209 with offices within the Whitehall area that they should not use their official cars for travel to and from their offices and the House of Commons but should walk during the period of the Energy Crisis.

If the Prime Minister decides to make a further ministerial broadcast in the near future on the Energy Crisis, will he explain to the nation, and in particular to the miners, since he failed to do this yesterday, why company directors can take up shares in lieu of dividends to avoid paying surtax at a possible rate of 90 per cent.

He must now be convinced that we have an Energy Crisis, but a couple of months ago he told us that the energy crisis was just a propaganda stunt and that there was plenty of energy in the world.

The latter, in view of the Energy Crisis, must be an important consideration.

Mr. Benn: In the light of the figures which the Minister has given and against the background of a more difficult economic situation, brought about partly by 906 the Energy Crisis, does the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry still adhere to his view that 1974 will be a year of rapid, go-ahead economic expansion in this country?

These decisions were taken before the Real Energy Crisis blew up.

The clear message throughout the Chase Manhattan Bank survey - it is very relevant to the relationship which Government establish between themselves and the North Sea oil exploration pattern - was that the world oil industry is not being permitted to accumulate and aggregate the necessary investment reserves to develop on the scale which it conceives to be necessary and which, indeed, the Energy Crisis has made the whole world realise is necessary.

Before completing the review, will the Government bear in mind that one effect of the Immediate Energy Crisis will be to encourage the American and Japanese Governments to provide massive incentives for the oil industry to look for marine oil on the eastern seaboard of the United States and in the South China Seas?

At present, as the Energy Crisis matures, the rapid and thorough exploration of what we have in our offshore areas should remain the priority over and above maximising revenues.

Referring to the discussions on the Energy Crisis, was the question of co-ordinating a pricing policy discussed?

I beg to move, to leave out from "That" to the end of the Question and to add instead thereof:this House declines to give a Second Reading to a Bill which provides for substantial public expenditure and guarantees at a time when such large-scale projects should be reconsidered, which contains provisions that will exacerbate the long-term nature of the Energy Crisis, and which will cause widespread environmental disruption to South-East England.

It talks of the tunnel exacerbating the long-term nature of the Energy Crisis.

The Energy Crisis facing this country is not just a temporary thing.

Is the Chancellor of the Exchequer aware that there will be disappointment on both sides of the House that reports to the effect that he courageously admitted yesterday that the assumptions on which he based his Budget strategy had been undermined by the Energy Crisis now appear to be untrue and that he is still showing the same complacency as he and his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry have been showing for so many weeks?

If the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not have an opportunity to meet the miners' leaders in the very near future, will he explain to the House whether it is good housekeeping to send half a million tons of steam coal to France in the middle of an Energy Crisis?

This is a major issue bearing upon the Energy Crisis.

The other question that has been asked is whether, in the context of today's Energy Crisis, wages are sufficient to attract or to hold enough men in the industry.

The Energy Crisis means that we shall pay still higher prices for the food we import.

Will the right hon. Gentleman publish as a White Paper the report made to him by the "think tank" about two years ago warning of the dangers of an Energy Crisis?

namely, the work to rule on the railways, its effect on the Energy Crisis, the worsening economic situation and the overall state of the nation.

9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration; namely, the work to rule on the railways, its effect on the Energy Crisis, the worsening economic situation and the overall state of the nation.

I suggest that in the midst of Our Grave Energy Crisis there is an urgent need to utilise a growing proportion of our research and development programme in an onslaught on the energy crisis itself.

Were not all his proposals related either to the economic situation which existed before the Energy Crisis or to the aggravation of that situation created by the increase in the price of Arab oil and the probable cuts in its supply?

We also agreed that the Community should take immediate action to review the facts of the Energy Crisis and to analyse the consequences for production, employment, prices, balance of payments and monetary reserves in all member States.

ANNEX TO THE COMMUNICATION OF THE PRESIDENCYEnergyThe Heads of State or Government considered that the situation produced by the Energy Crisis is a threat to the world economy as a whole, affecting not only developed but also developing countries.

The sort of problem he should tackle is deciding what additional contribution British Railways could make during the Energy Crisis.

It was conceived before the Present Energy Crisis.

The right hon. Gentleman will recall that one of the Under-Secretaries in his Department in July this year, in a debate which I initiated on the Energy Crisis, said that it was a "phoney" energy crisis.

Our domestic problems, however we define them, are likely to be aggravated very seriously for perhaps many years by a world Energy Crisis.

That is the situation which the nation faced before it became aware of the full dimensions of the Energy Crisis.

I believe that the crises we are facing - the fuel shortage, the industrial relations crisis, the Energy Crisis in the Middle East - are all symptoms of a much more fundamental crisis which is going to affect our society with increasing urgency in the years ahead.

First, the Energy Crisis.

Given that we are facing a three-day working week because of the Energy Crisis, any call for unity will need as a first step a suspension of the rent increases due under the Housing Finance Act and a suspension of the rules governing unemployment benefit so that those who are unemployed are taken care of and so that their living standards are not cut as severely as they might be cut.

Mr. van Straubenzee: Representations made by the Trustees of the Ulster Museum were based on the Present Energy Crisis.

These delays will be exacerbated by the Energy Crisis and the three-day week.

But though this recall debate is about the Energy Crisis, we ignore at our peril the wider and deeper crisis which the nation faces.

Before turning to some suggestions about the miners' dispute, I want to say this about the Energy Crisis.

We are now debating Our Energy Crisis against the background situation in which the overwhelming majority of the world's population has not yet begun to make its claim on limited resources - resources which already are running into difficulty.

There are two current industrial disputes, and, although one does not appear immediately to affect the Energy Crisis, we are all aware that if it escalates it will not be much good digging the coal if we cannot get it to the power stations.

If the present difficulty in the negotiations is purely financial, the Government should ask the miners to accept the NCB offer within the limits of phase 3 and at the same time establish an immediate inquiry to bring Wilberforce up to date in the light of the Energy Crisis, which after all was subsequent to the start of phase 3.

The Energy Crisis is, of course, the most outstanding of our troubles and most immediately affects the work and daily lives of our people, but, paradoxically, energy is also our hope for years to come.

We must consider it against the background of the general economic situation, the Energy Crisis and the miners' dispute.

The first is the Energy Crisis, which they saw as a real opportunity to embarrass the country.

Mr. Rose asked the Minister for Energy whether he will now reconsider the need for the Morecambe Bay barrage in the light of the Energy Crisis and the need to provide alternative sources of energy.

That has arisen not because of an Energy Crisis but because of the Government's failure in financial and economic matters to do their job.

The Prime Minister at the moment thinks that he might have an alibi for the mess the country is in, but there is a great deal of explaining to do about how the Government miscalculated the Energy Crisis, whose coming has been obvious for months to everyone.

These monitoring arrangements will also cover slippages which may arise from the Energy Crisis and from shortages of materials.

The Chancellor conceded that this had nothing to do with the Energy Crisis.

Would the Prime Minister accept, in the context of the Energy Crisis, that the attempt by the oil companies to raise the price of petrol by 6p a gallon should be repelled by the Price Board?

On top of all the problems that have beset our national game in recent years - not to mention the Current Energy Crisis, with its effect of bringing about early kick-offs - value added tax has been an outrageous imposition.

However, the Energy Crisis has exacerbated the situation.

It was logical for the House to assume, and I think that many of us did at the time, that my right hon. Friend was making the clear and welcome pronouncementthat, in view of the Energy Crisis, special exemptions from the full rigours of the code would have to be applied to the electricity boards.

My hon. Friend made it clear that he wanted to see us get back, given the Present Energy Crisis, to non-price restraint.

In this so-called Energy Crisis we are supposed to need every cobble of coal and we constantly hear from the Prime Minister that there will be security tomorrow for the miners, yet pits are still being shut down.

If the Energy Crisis has done nothing other than to dim some of those lights we ought to be grateful for at least that.

The Opposition know perfectly well that if by any appalling mischance they found themselves again in the seat of Government, they would have to face up to a very difficult economic situation, produced by an Energy Crisis in which the oil and coal situations played a dominating part.

Anyone who does not recognise that this is related to the Energy Crisis and that there is no growth in the economy in 1974 and the reasons for it is not facing reality.

Is he saying that the Energy Crisis has nothing to do with the miners?

I cannot help feeling that a party which prefers building Maplin and the Channel Tunnel, especially in the middle of an Energy Crisis, has its priorities wrong.

Of course, one of the few happy advantages of an Opposition is that whatever the Government had decided to do in the face of an Energy Crisis - they agree that something had to be done - they would perfectly legitimately have initiated a debate and criticised.

The Secretary of State, with crocodile tears, said that he was sorry that he had to make the cuts, which, he said, were inevitable as a result of the Energy Crisis.

Just before Christmas the Government had to take action to restrict the domestic element as a result of the Energy Crisis.

I ask the hon. Gentleman to look at the different time scales for the situation as I have described it in the late autumn oflast year and the situation which resulted from the Energy Crisis, and the various factors that have arisen between then and the time of the Governor's speech.

I know that the Government are taking stock, as is every Western Government, as a result of the Energy Crisis.

To my mind it is a little preoccupying to have the expenditure adjustments which were announced in December presented as a response to a sudden new situation resulting from the Energy Crisis and the change in the Government's expectation of growth which thus arose.

A Crisis in Energy has been building up for a number of years.

The Energy Crisis will give a tremendous boost to undersea oil exploration right across the globe, and many of the rigs currently under construction in foreign yards and destined for use in the North Sea may now never get here.

and if he will give a general direction to the corporation to transfer suitable qualities, so as to ensure maximum steel production during the Present Energy Crisis.

We have an Energy Crisis, with a shortage of oil supplies and increased costs of oil affecting the living standard of our people at every level of our society.

As the Present Energy Crisis is entirely the result of the Government's determination to have a confrontation with the miners and thereby break the miners' determination to fight for what they believe is right, and this has manifestly failed, does the right hon. Gentleman not think it is time the Government called an end to this farce?

Mr. Hyams paid about as much attention to the former Secretary of State's bluster as the rest of us have now learnt to pay to his pronouncements about the Energy Crisis.

The Minister for Energy is still offering to solve the Energy Crisis by issues of luminous toothpaste and compulsory bingo.

In the Present Energy Crisis of the world and the nation nobody doubts that we absolutely must do that.

It is against the background of the increasing importance of the coalmining industry in the Energy Crisis that we ought to consider the mining dispute.

The first lesson to be learned from the Present Energy Crisis is that the miners should be at the top of the industrial tree as regards both pay and social benefits.

Another factor which has emerged from the Energy Crisis is the need for the motor manufacturers to develop smaller engines, which use less fuel.

I said earlier that we could argue about who is responsible for the Energy Crisis.

That process must now be reversed, because the Energy Crisis and the material crisis mean that a house or any building today must be built to last if we are to get good value from the public money which we invest in them.

First, we have to get the country back to work and, secondly, we have to embark on a programme of solving the Energy Crisis.

I turn now to the Energy Crisis.

We should give agriculture top priority because, first, the Energy Crisis that we have just experienced with all its dramatic consequences on the British economy could be nothing compared with the food crisis that we might have to face later in this decade.

On top of the commodity explosion about which I have been talking, there is the Energy Crisis, with its quadrupling of the price of oil.

We shall have to face and deal with all the problems caused by the Energy Crisis and the ravages of the three-day working week.

The discovery that new prosperity does not bring the solution of mankind's difficulties, and the new and extraordinary development of the Energy Crisis, have fallen upon us.

The other problem resulting from the Middle East conflict - namely, the Energy Crisis - also needs urgent treatment.

I therefore want to take advantage of the opportunity to be as helpful and as constructive as possible to the industry in reaching a solution to the Energy Crisis which faces us.

My hon. Friend said that we should be considering the question of productivity in the mining industry and that the nation, indeed the world, must realise that we are confronted today with an Energy Crisis.

That philosophy went untested for many years, but it has now come to grief, and it has done so in the context of the Energy Crisis.

In Wales it manifested itself in a sharp decline in the number of unfilled vacancies, and in a reversal in the downward unemployment trend, quickly followed by the grave effects of the Energy Crisis, which, in turn, was exacerbated by the Government's handling of the industrial relations situation.

The blunt truth is that the United Kingdom's economy - and the economy of Wales as part of the wider scheme - certainly has suffered recently, both as a result of the Energy Crisis and as a result of the previous Government's handling of industrial relations and other aspects of economic affairs.

Energy Crisis, 164.

Mr. Carmichael: The contract provides for completion on 30th May but, because of the Recent Energy Crisis, the contractor has requested an extension of time which is under consideration.

The point is strengthened in that since the autumn of last year and the advent of the Energy Crisis the economic prospects of all the countries whose currencies form part of the major trading medium in the world have changed in their internal and external relationships.

Yet the Paymaster-General says that we are facing an Energy Crisis and the Budget must be tough; and then he says that we must have a neutral Budget.

It was also before the full extent of British oil resources had been recognised - pace Lord Rothschild - and before the full extent of the Energy Crisis facing Europe had been recognised.

The second was his equally obvious duty to eliminate at the earliest possible stage a balance of payments deficit arising out of factors other than the Energy Crisis, and especially the oil crisis.

The House will remember that it was the hon. Member for Honiton who only eight months ago confided in us, saying,My hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and I for a number of months have been making it clear that we do not regard it as an Energy Crisis".

We have become far too prodigal with our resources, and if the events of the last few months, highlighted by the Energy Crisis and the oil problem, have concentrated our minds upon the need to cease taking for granted and to cease squandering, they have achieved a great deal.

Of all the follies committed by the last Government, surely the monumental folly of all was that they were willing, in a world with a growing Energy Crisis, to place in jeopardy this great future for British energy.

The hon. and learned Member made his proposal because there is now a recognition that, as a result of the Energy Crisis - it is a crisis, not a problem - coal as a fossil fuel has a future and may well be profitable.

This evidence was given before the Energy Crisis.

They know perfectly well that we were in an Energy Crisis which was bound to refect on the situation that we faced in relation not only to the general economy but to the whole question of the cost of energy.

I said that there would be a Serious Energy Crisis based on cost.

The main cause of this reduction was the general uncertainty following the Energy Crisis.

Each of those countries has been struck by and has had to face the Energy Crisis and the political difficulties of acting in unison.

Although it appears that the Government would have people believe that the Energy Crisis has disappeared, the need for continued research and development of alternative forms of energy other than fossil fuels is of vital importance.

There has been little mention this afternoon of the Energy Crisis and the need to conserve oil supplies.

I think he will recognise that the Energy Crisis, with the resulting high rise in air fares, has had effects upon holiday organisations which run charter flights, which put them in a wholly different category from the broader considerations he mentions.

But the problem comes back to the Department of Industry in terms of the possible effect of the Energy Crisis on world airlines and pushes back into the aircraft industry.

We have now reached the middle of this year, having survived an Energy Crisis, but with the members of the Alliance still prepared to talk in terms of defence improvements.

Governments almost everywhere have been reexamining their assumptions about tourism, if only because of the implications for tourism of the Energy Crisis, but I can assure him that this Government will certainly not ignore the kind of considerations to which he has referred, even if we do not end up by coming to precisely the same conclusions.

The Government would have taken decisions, and six months later the whole lot would have had to be put in the waste paper basket, not through industry's fault but because of the Energy Crisis.

The cloud is the Energy Crisis, and that is why it was so profoundly depressing to hear the right hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr. Fernyhough) criticising the profits of the Shell Company and asking how the Shell refinery workers could be expected not to be greedy.

Mr. Meacher: The recovery of steel production from the adverse impact of the Energy Crisis and the miners' strike has been hindered by several difficulties including shortages of ferrous scrap and of appropriate blends of coking coal, manpower shortages, and industrial disputes.

The Energy Crisis is bringing great agonies to the world, both to industrial and to developing countries.

Perhaps the most telling factor in the years to come - and we see it already in the drop in the growth of air transport, both passenger and freights - is the impact of the high cost of aviation fuel, rather than the Energy Crisis as such.

It advocatedSolidarity with the miners to win their claim in order to solve the Energy Crisis.

In the context of the Acute Energy Crisis that this country faces, it was not too much to expect.

Immediately after the Energy Crisis in October 1973, when the price of petrol increased significantly - four-star petrol cost about 36p a gallon in those halcyon days - petrol consumption in this country fell by between 5 per cent.

The Recent Energy Crisis has led to a greater discussion of this problem of wasted energy, but any sense of urgency is still lacking.

I am sorry to think that both hon. Gentlemen are being rather hilarious in saying that the Energy Crisis has only just occurred.

Other people say that we shall not have any vehicles soon because the Energy Crisis and the cost of petrol will reduce the amount of traffic.

Does the Secretary of State accept that one of the considerable advantages that this country can gain from membership of the EEC is the opportunity to participate in a common policy to meet the Energy Crisis?

The whole question of the effect of the Energy Crisis on agriculture should be considered.

If we are in the middle of an Energy Crisis, serious consideration should be given to this point.

The Energy Crisis in the last financial year, and the three-day working week, meant that the Post Office was not able to achieve its planned level of investment, and spent £723 million against the originally planned £739 million.

This is the way out of the Energy Crisis.

Mr. Carmichael: This scheme has been delayed by the Energy Crisis earlier this year, difficulty in obtaining supplies of materials, and the unusually wet autumn weather.

Like all the other manufacturing nations of the western world, we are facing a very Grave Energy Crisis.

Like all the other manufacturing nations of the western world, we are facing a very grave Energy Crisis.

That means a continuity of employment for miners and, at a time of Energy Crisis and shortage, wealth for the nation.

I appreciate that answer, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is a year since the Energy Crisis arose and that other countries have implemented conservation projects?

The great majority of people can scarcely be aware that there is an Energy Crisis.

That indicates that the approach we adopt must be a long-term one, because the Energy Crisis will not disappear in the short term.

There may be the beginnings of realism on the Energy Crisis.

I, too, believe in it, and I would point out to my right hon. Friend that one of its important parts is the statement on transport on page 20, stating that the Energy Crisis has undermined our objective to move as much traffic as possible from road to rail and water.

This circular argument must be resolved, particularly in the light of the Energy Crisis.

I seek the views of the Minister and the Government on the Energy Crisis as it affects the glasshouse industry.

When lighting was severely restricted at the time of the Energy Crisis at the beginning of last year, this was accompanied by a rise in the number of accidents.

We have an Energy Crisis to contend with and we cannot afford to delay conservation measures when the evidence is as obvious as it is in this instance.

The Japanese economy and, in consequence, United Kingdom exports to Japan have been affected over this period by a number of factors, including the Energy Crisis, changes in exchange rates and commodity price increases, and it is not possible to identify the effect of United Kingdom membership of the EEC or to estimate the effect of any withdrawal.

The SMMT has produced a research document, with a foreword by Ray Brookes, on the Energy Crisis in the motor industry.

The question we have to consider in solving the Energy Crisis is what is available to us as a nation.

That has reflected considerably in the Energy Crisis.

According to its central planning council, the only real answer to the Energy Crisis is nuclear power.

The fact that the Energy Crisis is now with us makes it more imperative than ever that more action should be taken.

Will the Minister confirm that early in my speech I said that action should have been taken in this respect long before the Energy Crisis came upon us?

We have to regard this debate against the background of a continuing Energy Crisis.

It is only in the context of Our Energy Crisis and the national need for 15 million tons of open-cast coal by 1985 that the compulsory powers proposed are acceptable.

It is not good enough for the Secretary of State for Industry to imply, as he did at columns 1560 and 1561 of Hansard on 26th June, that the problems of Court Line were due to the Energy Crisis.

Worldwide inflation, the Energy Crisis and the recession resulting from these two problems, has naturally affected the automobile industry more than most others because of its peculiar susceptibility to cyclical swings.

I think that 1973 was a bad year for the Community, because it faced a Terrible Energy Crisis.

Therefore, the £20,000 return before the Energy Crisis was reasonable.

Because of the impact of the Energy Crisis it is also important that as soon as possible the horticulture industry should take advantage of any research that may be carried out in terms of new energy-saving techniques, and particularly new materials, in the glasshouse industry.

There is a Crisis in Energy, and we need an answer to this.

Does not my hon. Friend agree that there is something basically absurd about priorities when we can find resources for mile after mile of motorway which communities do not want and for supersonic air transport but not for decent, basic rural transport for those who cannot afford motor cars, especially when we do not want them to run motor cars in view of the Energy Crisis?

The world in which we live has been transformed in the past two years - by the Energy Crisis, by the oil surcharge on our costs and prices structure and by the resulting imbalance in world monetary flows and stocks.

The Energy Crisis was likewise beyond the capacity of the Common Market to cope with because it required cooperation between all the major consumer countries in the world and not simply between the nine industrial countries of Western Europe, although these are important consumers of oil and have an important interest.

I find it specious and disingenuous to seek to blame high unemployment, inflation, balance of payments problems and the rest of our difficulties on our membership of the Community, especially since the period of our membership has coincided with an unprecedented increase in world food prices and primary products and an Energy Crisis which has affected the whole of the civilised world.

The problems about the Energy Crisis, Herr Brandt's position and the Dutch position at the Copenhagen Summit- the problem there was that the Community had never settled foreign policy in relation to the Middle East.

The Government's Transport and Road Research Laboratory recently issued a report suggesting that, despite everything, car ownership and use are likely to rise to the end of the century at rates not far different from those anticipated before the Energy Crisis arrived.

Not one car in that fleet has been cut as a result of the Energy Crisis.

I fail to see how they can make that deduction if they care to look back only 12 months at the record of some of the multinational companies and their activities during the Energy Crisis brought about by the last military flare up in the Middle East.

I view with suspicion the recently-published report of the Government's Transport and Road Research Laboratory which suggested that, despite everything, car ownership and the use of cars is likely to rise to the end of this century at rates not far different from those anticipated before the Energy Crisis arrived.

The changes which came upon British Leyland as a result of the Energy Crisis do not receive the recognition which it is self-evident should have gone into the report.

Construction of the Leven viaduct was hampered by ground conditions which necessitated redesigning the foundations, and the Tees Bridge was delayed by the Energy Crisis of 1973–74, bad weather and a hold-up in the supply of steel reinforcing.

but because it comes at a time when Britain and the Western World are facing a very Serious Energy Crisis.

The Bill will certainly not help solve the Energy Crisis, and it is completely irrelevant to the major crisis facing the country.

Many of the countries of Europe face tremendous internal problems arising from the recession and the 1036 Energy Crisis, problems which, inevitably, have diverted their attention from community building in the Atlantic area, across the Atlantic area, and, above all, between the Atlantic area and Japan.

We had the Energy Crisis of 1973–74, and on both sides of the House we learned some bitter lessons, which have done us no harm but have perhaps taught us to regard this industry in a totally fresh light.

I emphasised at that time that my philosophy and that of my party - I make no apology for repeating it - was quite the opposite, that the Energy Crisis in the winter of 1973, which put the country on a three-day working week, had proved that this new-found source of wealth was of such fundamental importance to the nation's economic future that we could not allow it to go into private ownership and just depend on fiscal regulations to recoup our share of the cake which had been found in the sea off our coasts.

After all, the Energy Crisis began in September 1973 and the Barber cuts came in December 1973.

Mr. David Howell asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent the Governments of the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium implemented increases or reductions in planned levels of public expenditure for 1974 and 1975 in response to the Energy Crisis of October 1973.

Mr. Joel Barnett: Certain decisions involving expenditure were made by the British Government of the day specifically to meet actual and prospective energy shortages in the winter of 1973–74, but these were small compared with other changes in expenditure plans made at that time and later in relation to a number of problems—in, for instance, the demand management and balance of payments fields—which were to a varying degree exacerbated by the Energy Crisis.

In particular, there should be investigation of the cost to the ratepayers and how, despite an elaborate system, the drop in traffic at peak times is about the same as the national average drop in traffic owing to the Energy Crisis.

We said that the Energy Crisis had underlined our objective of moving as much freight as possible from road to rail and water transport.

Information was not collected in January 1974, however, because of an Energy Crisis.

Between 1st July that year and 31st October, when the onset of the Energy Crisis significantly affected driving habits, there were 253 deaths and 5,007 serious injuries to motor cyclists.

A number of speakers, and particularly my right hon. Friend the Member for Knutsford (Mr. Davies) and my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam), have referred to the Energy Crisis that will face us unless we take appropriate action.

by comparison with the level before the Energy Crisis.

Great Britain the numbers registered for more than 26 weeks at each count date: January 19733 287,619 April 1973 273,582 July 1973 229,720 October 1973 204,620 January 1974 * April 1974 203,481 July 1974 193,312 October 1974 199,722 January 1975 * April 1975 248,895 July 1975 275,493 October 1975 315,727 *Figures are not available for January 1974 because of the Energy Crisis and for January 1975 because of industrial action at local offices of the Employment Services Agency.

The clause therefore provides partial exemption for certain restrictive agreements made by the oil industry, only during an Energy Crisis.

Comparable figures are not available for January 1975 because of industrial action at local offices of the Employment Service Agency or for January 1974 when no count was made because of the Energy Crisis.

They were introduced, we were told, to save fuel, as part of some window-dressing exercise at the time of the Energy Crisis.

The Energy Crisis caused the imposition of speed limits which the Government have failed to remove.

In January, February and March 1974 the volume of short-time was affected by the Energy Crisis.

For example, there are the varying speed limits, wished upon us by the Energy Crisis and by considerations of road safety.

They were introduced against a background of the Energy Crisis, and tacked on to this we had the argument of safety.

This Government alone endeavoured to scuttle the possibility of tackling the Energy Crisis on a Community basis and neglected the exposed position of the Netherlands.

The limits were introduced not for road safety reasons but because of the Energy Crisis.

As the Chairman of the NCB pointed out in December, the Energy Crisis has resulted in, if nothing else, a clear demonstration of coal's vast reserve potential and its capacity to provide a competitive and secure source of energy.

Judging by the recent debate on nuclear fuel, I think the whole House recognises that the Energy Crisis continues to dominate the thinking of all Governments, world-wide.

The Coal Board's policies should havesupport and should be receptive to all ideas to meet the challenge of Any Energy Crisis with the responsibility to do so.

Information was not collected in January 1974 because of an Energy Crisis and in January 1975 because of industrial action at local offices of the Employment Service Agency.

I suppose that any question about the Energy Crisis will meet the answer that we must await the White Paper.

Because of the Energy Crisis in January 1974 and industrial action by staff in the Department of Employment Group in January 1975 information for these two dates is not available.

If, however, present anticipations of the growth of air traffic after 1990 are realised - I believe that they will almost certainly be drastically changed by such factors as the Energy Crisis - it will be necessary to think out long-term solutions.

The hon. Member for High Peak referred to the Energy Crisis, and this subject was debated in another place this week.

This Energy Crisis dwarfs all the talk about other commodities, none of which has such a universal impact on living standards.

This is the fact that arises from the approaching Energy Crisis.

Mr. Skeet asked the Secretary of State for Energy, in an Energy Crisis situation in Europe, whether there is an agreement with EEC partners under which the United Kingdom could be obliged to curtail its self-sufficiency in crude oil and petroleum products in 1979, 1980 and thereafter to make additional supplies available to Community partners.

Last week Mr. Dean Rusk, the late Secretary of State, said in a speech that the Energy Crisis wasa new cause of war coming down the road that will set nations at each other's throats".

But the Energy Crisis is in itself a long-term problem, which must lead to a complete reshaping of world patterns of energy supply and consumption.

I am convinced that a major contribution to solving the Energy Crisis lies in research and development of fast breeders.

When I assume an Energy Crisis of the 1990s I know that there are those who believe that as prices rise so other sources of energy will be developed.

The only way in which there will be an energy gap, and the only circumstances in which we or any other countries in the world will suddenly face an Energy Crisis, will be if politicians create one.

The Energy Crisis will come.

In its report of May 1977 it said that the West could face an Energy Crisis in 10 years' time.

Corresponding figures for January 1974 were not collected, because of the Energy Crisis.

(2) if he will list in the Official Report energy conservation measures taken since the 1973 Energy Crisis together with the cost in each case and the estimated energy saving achieved.

Information is not available for January 1974 because of an Energy Crisis and for January 1975 because of industrial action by some staff within the Department of Employment Group.

Too many people do not realise, however, that the world faces an Energy Crisis and that over-dependence on oil could create difficulties for us in five, 10 or 15 years hence.

* June 1977 … … 202 * No figures are available for January 1974 because of the Energy Crisis and for December 1974, January 1975 and December 1976 because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group.

* July 1975 … … 315 January 1976 … … 303 July 1976 … … 979 January 1977 … … 350 * No figures are available for January 1974 because of the Energy Crisis and for December 1974, January 1975 and December 1976 because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment Group.

If we could give a stimulus, for example, to home insulation, it would be of lasting benefit to the country in terms of the Energy Crisis and of reducing employment.

We reach a challenging conclusion, that if that is so, the obverse of the decision is that if we decide to forgo the nuclear alternatives, we must clearly face a future in which civilisation will run into a Major Energy Crisis.

The EEC says quite clearly that although it is three years since the first recommendations, and four years since the Energy Crisis, not enough has been done to get energy conservation moving.

The Energy Crisis, which is the way in which we describe the fourfold increase in the price of oil and the shortage of supplies, was four years ago.

Mr. Eadie: Energy savings on a national scale are usually taken to be the difference between the actual level of energy consumption and an estimate of what would have been consumed under similar general economic circumstances, if the Energy Crisis and its consequences in terms of energy price increases, the Government's "Save It" campaign, etc.

was not collected because of an Energy Crisis.

Information is not available for January 1974 because of an Energy Crisis and for January 1975 because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment group.

Information was not collected because of an Energy Crisis in January 1974 and because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment group in January 1975.

‡ The age analysis was not made in January 1974 because of an Energy Crisis.

The economic well-being of the early 1960s deteriorated in the latter half of that decade and, coupled with terrorism, inflation, and the Energy Crisis, industrial growth in the Province has ground to a standstill.

Figures are not available for January 1974 because of an Energy Crisis and for January 1975 because of industrial action by some staff in the Department of Employment group.

Following the Energy Crisis in 1974, the Government adopted an active energy conservation policy and have reaffirmed its importance in the response to the First Report of the Select Committee on Science and Technology and, more recently in the Green Paper on energy policy presented to Parliament earlier this year.

However, we are certainly facing an Energy Crisis.

Analyses giving the age of the unemployed and the length of time for which they have been registered are normally made in January and July each year, but the information was not collected in January 1974 because of an Energy Crisis.

A comparison with the early months of 1974 is not possible due to the restricted collection of statistics at that time due to the Energy Crisis.

Will the right hon. Gentleman say what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, especially as the situation in the Province is likely to be complicated by the Serious Energy Crisis in the Irish Republic, where there are grave shortages, rationing and exorbitant prices?

I am glad that the hon. Member for Tiverton (Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop) referred to the Energy Crisis, although in fairly specific terms.

Reverting to the Energy Crisis, a spokesman for one of the oil companies last month said "We shall be faced with £1 a gallon for petrol".

We have seen the Energy Crisis that has landed on another Minister's desk.

Mr. Walter Johnson asked the Minister of Transport if he will authorise the British Railways Board to embark upon an immediate programme of further rail electrification projects as a contribution to easing the long-term effects of the Energy Crisis.

Do not the Government have a responsibility for energy saving and is it not quite irresponsible, in the context of the Present Energy Crisis, to cut back on the grants to British Rail?

However, the Energy Crisis did not start on 3 May.

In view of the Present Energy Crisis and the need to maintain our underground production of coal, will the right hon. Gentleman ensure that the Government give the means of investment to the board to see that this pit is kept open and that there are no further closures in Wales?

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that the case for railway electrification is growing stronger month by month as a result of the Energy Crisis?

Mr. Arthur Lewis asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the Energy Crisis and the high level of crime in the streets in areas such as Newham, he will take action to reduce the use of cars, pandas and vehicles by police forces to increase the use of foot patrols.

There was an Adjournment debate in December 1973 when the Under-Secretary of State for Energy echoed The Economist of that week and said, "What Energy Crisis"?

Does my right hon. Friend agree with the very firm stand taken by Heads of State of EEC countries in Tokyo this week on the fact that they will economise, on the other side of the coin, and develop atomic power stations in Britain - a race that we are fast losing - and that we must deplore the attitude of the American Government in imposing no restrictions at all on oil consumption and exacerbating the Energy Crisis?

Today, in Tokyo, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and the other leaders of the West will be discussing ways of dealing with the Energy Crisis and other pressures on the world economy.

As the world has suffered Energy Crisis after energy crisis and is now deeply involved in the middle of another one, and although, to put it mildly, the prospects for world trade are not encouraging, I believe that it is a considerable achievement that the initiative launched many years ago has now been brought to fruition.

The Budget would have been much better had the Government turned their attention to the Energy Crisis and tried to change human behaviour in relation to the consumption of energy rather than concentrating on a change from direct to indirect taxation.

37 - to those who wish to install or improve insulation - a highly desirable aim, especially during an Energy Crisis.

In view of the Energy Crisis, does the Leader of the House not feel that we should debate the situation with a view to bringing all energy sources under one umbrella, with a co-ordinated fuel policy, which would conserve fuel and give the country a lead?

Likewise, in terms of the Energy Crisis which confronts the world, we should take some advantage from the fact that we have North Sea oil on our doorstep.

Mr. Allen McKay asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give assurances that Government support to the National Coal Board plans to mine coal in the Vale of Belvoir will be forthcoming in view of the Energy Crisis.

With the continuing Energy Crisis, who can possibly justify a new road?

Mr. Haynes asked the Secretary of State for Energy if, in view of the Energy Crisis, he will decline to give his approval to the proposal of the National 389 Coal Board to close the Teversal colliery in Nottinghamshire.

Mr. John Browne asked the Minister of Transport, in view of the Energy Crisis, what are his plans for encouraging car sharing.

Has the Minister noted in the recent package from President Carter in response to the Energy Crisis a new emphasis on public transport in the United States?

Does he agree that with the Energy Crisis it would be crazy for anyone to contemplate abandoning an electrified line?

Will he consider the imaginative lead given by the Swedish Government, who have responded to the Energy Crisis by slashing rail fares?

I shall review that in the light of the Energy Crisis and see whether further impetus can be given.

Does the Minister agree that it is essential that public road transport should be encouraged as an intelligent response to the Energy Crisis?

Does the Minister agreethat there should be British Government support for this project, which, particularly at a time of Energy Crisis, has a major contribution to make in terms of international communication and will stop the ceaseless proliferation of European juggernauts on our roads?

, and we have had the Energy Crisis to push up substantially, even in the United States, the price of gasolene, which is a fairly important consideration for a car that Mr. De Lorean has said will contain a mixture of mystique, sex, prestige and class, and is to be suitably expensive to boot.

The Energy Crisis will not go away.

Furthermore in response to the Energy Crisis more coal traffic will have to be carried by the railways to the power stations.

It might be a good idea, because of the Energy Crisis, if we started converting them back to coal.

As we are approaching an Energy Crisis, we want action by the Government to develop the railways.

Finally, I ask the Government for an assurance at the close of the debate that they will take all necessary steps to ensure, in the immediate future and during the Energy Crisis, adequate fuel supplies for the fishing industry.

There is an Energy Crisis, and we have but four industries.

At a time when we are all desperately worried about the Energy Crisis and our future oil supplies, it is a strange policy for the Government to be thinking about roads investment on that scale and not at the same time giving encouragement to railway investment, which is very much more efficient in terms of energy use.

Mr. Anderson asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what measures to extend the provision of the Homes Insulation Act and otherwise he will introduce to encourage greater attention to insulation in the light of the Energy Crisis.

I understand the problems that are involved, particularly in a time of Energy Crisis, in airline operators having to ground planes completely for many hours because of a ban on night flying.

Mr. Michael Brown asked the Secretary of State for Energy what recent representations he has received from the National Farmers Union about the Energy Crisis.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what recent representations he has received from the National Farmers Union about the Energy Crisis.

Will there be adequate consultation between his Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Energy Crisis that we experienced earlier this year should be repeated?

The Energy Crisis in the Western world is worse than has been suggested in tonight's debate.

Two hundred years ago there was a shortage of wood for smelting which produced an Energy Crisis as serious as any today.

The second problem is the Energy Crisis, which came in 1973–74 and led to the recession.

He is flying in the face of the Energy Crisis that is about to burst upon us.

The Government should say that they think that it is madness toallow pits to go out of existence, when the world faces an Energy Crisis and when the price of oil is soaring again, and that they intend to ensure that coking coal is bought from British pits.

At a recent conference in Amsterdam, a senior official of Nippon Steel presented a fascinating paper in which he described his company's reaction to the Energy Crisis that Japan started to face several years ago and is still facing.

I believe that the Energy Crisis underlines the importance of the railway system.

On the general point, I agree with him; I believe that the Energy Crisis underlines the importance of the railway system.

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that, unless he revises the ceilings, the only short-term alternative for British Rail is a sharp increase in fare, at the very time when, if the Energy Crisis means anything, we should be making public transport more attractive and not more expensive?

Let us remember that the temptation of imported coking coal is a short-term price advantage and for that the Government are willing to fritter away the long-term assets of our coal resources in South Wales, at a time when the world is talking of entering an Energy Crisis.

We are dragging our heels unforgivably and damnably in dealing with the Energy Crisis.

The Arab-Israeli war of 1974 was not a Crisis of Energy.

The world is facing an Energy Crisis.

First, the general public in the Western world - and I am certain that this is true of the United States of America and maybe Japan, as it is certainly for Western Europe and this country - do not see an Energy Crisis at present.

However, do not let us be kidded by the Milton Friedman theory that there will be no world Energy Crisis if market forces are allowed to operate.

What was British Rail's response to the Energy Crisis?

I cannot see the reason, when we are obviously on the verge of an Energy Crisis.

Is it conceivable that the impact of the Energy Crisis will galvanise Governments now into attaching an importance to this report that was certainly not attached to the Pearson report, in spite of the sentiments of good will that followed it about 10 years ago?

Therefore, whilst I foresee Another Energy Crisis in future, I have to say that in the immediate future we shall probably face an energy glut rather than a shortage.

Another basic factor is the Energy Crisis, which has been coupled with the decision of the Arab countries to use oil as an economic weapon.

In the few moments at my disposal I shall deal with the Energy Crisis.

Under Class II, Vote 3, and Class III, Vote 1, I wish to raise the question of the Energy Crisis in Northern Ireland.

I recognise the emphasis that Brandt places on the Energy Crisis facing the world.

A realistic approach should be adopted to try to help in the Great Energy Crisis which will undoubtedly engulf the world in the next decade or two.

Let us take a world stance in the Energy Crisis.

I ask hon. Members to add those figures to the figures that have already been given when they talk of the consequences for their constituents of the Energy Crisis that faces us.

It was President Carter who said that the Energy Crisis was the moral equivalent of war.

It was the Energy Crisis.

The Energy Crisis of 1973 is but one of those events.

World population is growing at an alarming rate; there is a Crisis in Energy, in food and in raw materials.

It is essential to see the Community budget reflecting an overall approach to transport policy that takes realistic account of recent economic developments and, in particular, of the Energy Crisis and environmental considerations, not to mention the interdependence between transport and other vital policy areas.

The Energy Crisis suggests the most urgent need for a full-scale European solar power satellite technology programme.

If Britain had been gripped in an Energy Crisis as a result of industrial action, the Government would have had to act.

The Government quickly introduced discussions and meetings to avert what would have been a Serious Energy Crisis.

The reason that there is a great deal of coal on the ground is that the Government have solved the Energy Crisis by mass unemployment.

I do not know what the Secretary of State has been doing during the past few years, but has he not noticed that the Energy Crisis has dominated world politics for 25 years since Abadan, Suez, the Six-Day War and the OPEC price increases which introduced great economic instability?

President Carter is reported as having said that the Energy Crisis is the "moral equivalent of war".

The Province does not yet have an Energy Crisis.

The Energy Crisis hit the world in 1973, 10 years ago, and yet we have had to wait for the Shackleton report in 1982 to suggest that perhaps there should be wind generators producing electricity, or perhaps a thermal power station burning the local peat, instead of the importation of highly expensive oil, to keep the islands' economy going.

We shall reach our next round in the Energy Crisis in, I believe, the year 2005.

That happened partly because of the Energy Crisis and partly because of the threshold trigger for wages which the right hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Mr. Heath) introduced, the effects of which we felt during our first year in office.

A decade ago, the Energy Crisis was on everybody's mind.

Not only he will be hit, but also the many thousands of people who are locked into a system of electric heating installed in the early 1960s before the Energy Crisis in council houses, who cannot afford to turn on the heating in the depth of winter because of their fear of the electricity bills that will result.

We went to see the President because he has an Energy Crisis on his hands.

Ten years have passed since the Great Energy Crisis of 1974.

The industry did not disguise the fact that there were other problems but there was no doubt that the Energy Crisis, in the first period between 1979 and 1982, made a great and lasting impression on the paper industry.

Since the Energy Crisis in the late 1960s there have been escalating increases in electricity prices and Government-induced increases in gas prices.

He lost the chance to show leadership in dealing with a scarce commodity, in preventing yet Another Energy Crisis and in preventing the price of a barrel of oil from going up to $30.

Those of us who have a bit of a memory will acknowledge that his stricture during the Energy Crisis in 1973 was that we should brush our teeth in the dark.

The estate was designed in 1974 and built by ABK, based on the findings of Ore Arun and Partners, prompted by the 1973 Energy Crisis.

All the experts recognise that in the 1990s we shall face an Energy Crisis.

Once we rely on a foreign supplier, up will go the price and there will be an Energy Crisis, just as we had with oil in the 1960s.

It was born as a result of the world's Energy Crisis, conceived between Government, management and trade unions, but sadly it was only the Government who stuck to their side of the bargain to meet their investment commitment.

Following the Energy Crisis of the early 1970s, Governments around the world became overnight converts to energy efficiency, spurred on by the fear that the West would be held to ransom by Arab oil sheiks and by somewhat apocalyptic forecasts of how long oil reserves would last.

In the Newport area, there is a need to protect against the effects of global warming by putting in the groundwork on sea defences, to look for new ways to recycle materials which were previously thought of as waste, and to look for new solutions to the Energy Crisis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what provisions govern the operation of the electricity supply industry during an Energy Crisis, following privatisation.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited a country that is experiencing an Energy Crisis.

As the Energy Crisis in the Soviet Union deepens, this assumption becomes questionable.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Mrs. Wise) said, almost every report since then has emphasised the need for nursery education, for example, the Plowden report and Lady Thatcher's White Paper, which was scuppered by the Energy Crisis - we had to do something about that crisis, I suppose.

The United Kingdom glasshouse industry has an exemplary record of energy saving, particularly since the Energy Crisis of the early 1970s, when fuel costs increased by more than 400 per cent.

We confront a Major Energy Crisis.

One would expect that, given the background of some of them, and given the reality of the fact that America is moving into what has been described--with perhaps a little hyperbole--as an Energy Crisis.

Again--this too was alluded to earlier by another noble Lord--President Bush declared an Energy Crisis in America, pointing in particular to California and the availability of electricity.

The Energy Crisis is probably one of the most important that the Government will face over the next two or three years.

The Bill is but stage one of dealing with the looming Energy Crisis.

After all, the cheapest way of not having an Energy Crisis is to use less power, and to use it more prudently.

The Government must rethink their overall nuclear policy and reconsider the huge potential of new nuclear reactors of modern design if the most Serious Energy Crisis of all time is to be avoided.

The Government have failed to resolve the Energy Crisis resulting from the decline of indigenous energy supplies and increasing reliance on imported gas.

The United Kingdom faces an Energy Crisis in the next 10 to 15 years, when the nuclear reactors are closed down and the 20 per cent.

The company must change its image because as other hon. Members, particularly my right hon. Friend the Member for Cunninghame, North, have said, we face an Energy Crisis: perhaps not this year or next year, but there are real problems on the horizon.

In China today, the cost of globalisation, and of being able to flood world markets and dump cheap produce in our shops, is that the Chinese are already in the middle of an Energy Crisis.

We do not say that we or the Government should make that decision today, but we believe that a clear timetable needs to be set for reaching a decision urgently because of the scale of the Energy Crisis.

On energy, the Secretary of State and his colleagues studiously avoided talking about the Energy Crisis during the election.

Such is the underestimated severity of the Energy Crisis we face.

Why are the Government determined to foist new nuclear power stations on Scotland when Scotland does not have an Energy Crisis?

One method of combating the Energy Crisis is to reduce production, and therefore the consumption of gas.

He will also be aware that an Energy Crisis was only narrowly avoided and that experts already predict that the situation next winter will be as tight, or even tighter.

This year we witnessed an Energy Crisis, and the development of economic patriotism in France and elsewhere that involved the attempted blocking of certain mergers.

Global warming, the Energy Crisis, globalisation of health risks, issues of international security and global terrorism - not to mention the related challenges of making a success of a culturally diverse and pluralist community within the United Kingdom - all demand the objectivity and gravitas of an organisation which is not just part of the media market.

If we held such a debate after the recess, it would be too late to have an impact on the situation, so may we have an early debate on manufacturing, particularly in the light of the Energy Crisis?

As the Energy Crisis deepens, we know that the Energy Act 2004 was a missed opportunity and that, with the rapid rise in the price of oil and the depleting gas supplies, the matter is now becoming critical.

We had a Major Energy Crisis last winter; we have seen the price of a barrel of oil double on the world markets; and we have had commensurately large increases in all other energy prices.

I have one final point; I do not propose to arrange for a repeat debate next year, though other aspects of the Energy Crisis - for such it is - will doubtless attract the interest of all of us here today.

We all recognised the spike that occurred with regard to the Energy Crisis last year, which has been corrected by falling energy prices over the past few months, which gives us hope for the future.

In November 2005, the Minister, in a previous role, warned us about an Energy Crisis that, "could see factories and offices having to shut down for all but three days a week".

My hon. Friend the Minister will be aware that the Crisis in Energy is likely to come between 2012 and 2015, when we will see the simultaneous decommissioning of coal-fired stations and of some nuclear stations.

If my constituents and I thought that by sticking giant wind turbines on every beautiful hill in the Lake district we could solve Our Energy Crisis and save the planet then, God help us, we would do so.

If we do not see it, we will not be able to have that technology on stream, and as a result we will meet the Energy Crisis much earlier than we will be able to have nuclear power stations on stream.

I sought this debate with deep concern and in the knowledge that the United Kingdom will face an Energy Crisis unless action is taken soon.

As he will be aware, we are likely to experience an Energy Crisis between 2012 and 2015 because of the simultaneous closure of coal and nuclear stations.

At the same time, however, if the United Kingdom is to avoid an Energy Crisis, we must place clean coal at the heart of our future energy policy and stimulate investment in the development of our substantial reserves.

That, in short, represents the Energy Crisis that I mentioned earlier.

My noble friend argues that, if you are to carry world opinion or our European partners down this road, it is all very well saying that we are going to set a lot of long-term targets which may cause great difficulties and the people will not see the results until many years later; however, they will be acutely concerned - possibly quite soon - with an Energy Crisis which may have political causes: further warfare and turmoil in the Middle East, Russian policy or whatever.

My noble friend Lord Howell points out that in the short term we have a potentially very Serious Energy Crisis facing us.

My noble friend Lord Howell points out that in the short term we have a potentially very serious Energy Crisis facing us.

We have an Energy Crisis now.

We face an Energy Crisis in a decade.

My hon. Friend, as an expert in energy, will recall that there was an Energy Crisis in Europe in 1972.

We are not saying that the United Kingdom Government should not help other countries that are facing an Energy Crisis - we have a great history as a generous nation that carries out its international responsibilities well - but it should be up to our Government and other sovereign Governments acting independently to decide whether it is right to give other countries that help.

An Energy Crisis, a recession in the US, global terrorism or a substantial fall in house prices could change the economic climate, plunging many more people into a severe debt crisis.

The Opposition should be strong to anything that will damage the flexibility and existing co-operative arrangements which have worked reasonably well but are about to be tested most vigorously by the coming Energy Crisis.

He was not the one trying to solve the Energy Crisis - he was solving the pensions crisis at the time.

It was important enough when we first agreed to join; in the present world climate, with security issues, the Energy Crisis and the food crisis, global warming and the prospect of possibly mass migration, and with the seismic shift of wealth out of European developed countries into oil-producing countries, there never was a more important time for us to have the strength of collective action in these areas.

Compared with the chain's plants in western Europe, the plant in my constituency is the most unprofitable because of the Energy Crisis that it faces.

This amendment was tabled in July, before the Current Energy Crisis, and followed by work I carried out in the recess to devise a workable tariff system.

When we come out of it, in whatever way we do so, that Energy Crisis will be waiting for us.

It was great that there was a lack of ideology, and a concern to solve the problems and face up to the growing Energy Crisis that could occur if we do not do anything.

The point is that we face a looming Energy Crisis, as one quarter of our existing power stations face closure in the next few years largely as a result of the need to comply with existing EU environmental legislation.

Wind farms also eat up capital that should be spent on more appropriate efforts to resolve our looming Energy Crisis.

The solutions to Our Energy Crisis are within our reach.

It took years before Labour faced up to the Energy Crisis that was developing under it and even now it is proceeding too timidly to address the issue successfully.

That is not appropriate in our financial situation, notwithstanding the fact that we have an Energy Crisis, which is best dealt with by expanding the renewables sector, as well as making important energy savings.

It is performing vital research that is needed to make hydrogen fuel cells market-ready so that they can play their role in solving the Energy Crisis.

Had the experiment coincided with the Energy Crisis, a very different view might have been taken in the House.

We all know that to hit the carbon reduction targets and to tackle the Energy Crisis over the next 30 to 40 years we will need a consensus that goes beyond all of us in this House.

After 13 years of a Labour Government, we faced the real prospect of an Energy Crisis.

The Energy Crisis facing this country will do more to undermine prosperity than anything else in the next 10 years, except perhaps the impact of the death throes of the eurozone.

The news yesterday that such subsidies will eventually be reduced to zero should deter companies hoping to exploit Our Energy Crisis.

However we tackle the Energy Crisis, it will require a huge amount of water.

Will the Secretary of State confirm that the key reason for the Energy Crisis is the fact that a vast amount of coal-fired generation is being forced to close down, not because of carbon dioxide emissions but because of emissions of sulphur dioxide, which, if anything, counters carbon dioxide.

I am not sure how we can get rid of our coal capacity between now and 2020 or 2025 without there being an Energy Crisis.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but I would remind him - I can remember it - that the economy was already in a difficult situation caused by the Energy Crisis.

I want to belong to a Parliament that settles Our Energy Crisis.

I will concentrate on the Government's decarbonisation agenda, pursued with little concern for the competitiveness of our economy and with its accompanying pressure to prevent the exploitation of our rich shale gas reserves, which threatens to produce a Serious Energy Crisis in this country.

The new Government face many challenges including terrorism, law and order, corruption, an Energy Crisis and the country's relations with its neighbours, particularly with its historic rival, India.

Nothing he said will have given any comfort to my constituents, or to anyone suffering as a result of the Energy Crisis.

A leading chemical major in Germany has recently said that it will put more of its investment abroad, outside the EU altogether, because, in the light of the Energy Crisis, the gas feed stock is uncompetitive.

I wonder sometimes whether Barnet football club has a solution to the so-called Energy Crisis in this country, because those floodlights are on all winter, until all hours of the day and night - often until 11.

The discovery of new energy fields such as the one off Cyprus, the advent of fracking and the developments in physics - I declare an interest as a governor of the pension fund of CERN, which is the major physics laboratory in the world - will probably put the Energy Crisis behind us in the next 20 to 30 years.

It would be fair to say that back in 2010 the UK faced an Energy Crisis, too.

We should not forget that we will only solve Britain's Energy Crisis as Britain.

If we want to get a better system, we need a Labour Government to make sure that we tackle the Energy Crisis, prices and the problems that people face so that they are then able to spend more and get the economy going again.

We continue to encourage Pakistan to address the Energy Crisis, tackle corruption and undertake further privatisations, which are needed to boost the economy.

Most importantly - this point has been made by Back Benchers in all parts of the House - we need to do something about the Energy Crisis.

Secondly, energy prices are low but there are other, negative impacts of the Energy Crisis, such as loss of jobs, lack of confidence and the up and down in the stock market.

Now they say that there is an Energy Crisis, and that in order to deal with it, they will start fracking all over the United Kingdom, even though it has been well established that most fracking is dangerous.