asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the Fuel Crisis in Jamaica, steps are being taken to establish a fuel, light and power board to equalise distribution and control prices; and whether electricity prices will be fixed at a reasonable low level?

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Fuel Crisis, in the words of yesterday's "Observer,"has ancient roots involving the call-up of miners in 1942, and the long neglect of modernisation and mechanisation?

Would the right hon. Gentleman consult with the Prime Minister on the advisability of suspending for a week or two the sittings of Standing Committees upstairs where, I understand, 12 Ministers are engaged, so that they can be in their Departments at this very vital time to deal with the Fuel Crisis?

Mr. Bowles asked the Prime Minister whether he will make arrangements for employers who pay their employees their wages for the guaranteed minimum week, although they are not working on account of the Present Fuel Crisis, to receive the amount of the unemployment pay which would otherwise be paid to such employees.

Mr. Piratin asked the Prime Minister whether in view of the hardship created by the widespread unemployment as a result of the Fuel Crisis, he will intro duce emergency measures authorising the payment of additional allowances to those in receipt of unemployment benefit in order to make their total money up to that of their basic wage.

asked the Prime Minister whether he will make arrangements for employers who pay their employees their wages for the guaranteed minimum week, although they are not working on account of the Present Fuel Crisis, to receive the amount of the unemployment pay which would otherwise be paid to such employees.

asked the Prime Minister whether in view of the hardship created by the widespread unemployment as a result of the Fuel Crisis, he will intro duce emergency measures authorising the payment of additional allowances to those in receipt of unemployment benefit in order to make their total money up to that of their basic wage.

Mr. A. Lewis asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he will arrange for the emergency mobile power stations, built during the war for use by the services or in bombed towns, to be used during the Present Fuel Crisis.

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the very long hours at present being worked by train men and others concerned in railway operations, particularly during the Present Fuel Crisis?

Mr. Skeffington-Lodge asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will make a statement about the service rendered by Poles and prisoners of war in helping to resolve the Fuel Crisis.

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will make a statement about the service rendered by Poles and prisoners of war in helping to resolve the Fuel Crisis.

As arrangements are not made centrally I have no figures readily available of the number of Polish troops or prisoners of war who have been helping on the roads and railways during the Fuel Crisis, but I am sure that my right hon. Friends the Ministers of Fuel and Power and Transport join in welcoming the valuable assistance that has been and is being given from these services.

The right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade has said - and, of course, it has been mentioned in this House before - that one of the main reasons for the lack of preparation for the Fuel Crisis which has emerged as a result of the weather is the estimate given by the Electricity Commissioners and the Electricity Board.

This situation is a by-product of the Fuel Crisis.

Everybody knew that there would be a Fuel Crisis, except that Minister.

Surely, we can hope, at least, that at some time in the 'fifties - or even in the 'sixties or 'seventies, if we live as long as that - we may get back to a state when we do not need to have double summer time because of the Fuel Crisis.

We are dealing with this problem now because of the Fuel Crisis.

For example, county education authorities have power to alter meal times so that during the Present Fuel Crisis the meal times of school children who have their lunch at home, should be more in accord with the meal times of theirfathers, thus avoiding two lots of cooking.

It is generally recognised that the demands made by the Fuel Crisis must rank first in priority over any other considerations.

Suppose, as I say, that the whole of Europe decides that it will have permanent single summer time and we, because of Our Fuel Crisis, decide to do the same thing.

Today we forget past controversy and approach the problem from a new angle because we are in the midst of a Fuel Crisis.

My hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Mr. Hurd) reminded the House during the Second Reading Debate that we had with us now a Fuel Crisis, but that we might well have with us before very long a food crisis, and the question of the pro-duction of food depends very much upon this question of double summer time.

I intend to speak for only a moment or two to say that the Fuel Crisis has, of course, had certain beneficial effects, in that it has aroused us to the urgency of the situation, but it has also had two most unfortunate results.

Everyone knows there is a Fuel Crisis, a food crisis and a crisis in housing; it is just a continuous state of affairs.

That concession makes a great difference to Scottish farmers, who do not wish to be behind their English colleagues in making a contribution, however slight it may be, to a solution of the Fuel Crisis.

We have heard three Ministerial speeches today, and one of the oddest things which seems to emerge about This Fuel Crisis, or power crisis, as I see it described in some newspapers, is what an extremely small amount of coal has made all the difference.

asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that theBristol Aeroplane Company have discharged reinstated employees to avoid paying the guaranteed 34-hour week wages and offer to restart them when the Fuel Crisis is over; and whether, as the company's engine division is affected, not by the shortage of fuel but of materials from sub-contract firms, and, in view of the obligation to ex-Servicemen under the Reinstatement Act which should guarantee continual employment, he will take steps in the matter to protect the men concerned.

They must recognise that, having blundered into a Fuel Crisis they are next likely to be confronted with an equally disastrous failure in the realms of agriculture.

The Fuel Crisis is merely a symptom of the disease from which this country is now suffering.

Even the production of fertilisers has been held up because of the Fuel Crisis, and farmers are told that if they have not got them already they can consider themselves lucky if they get them for the sowing season.

As a result of the Fuel Crisis of the last few weeks, the shortage of manpower has taken second place in people's minds after the shortage of coal.

It is out of date because it was prepared and was in the hand of the publishers before the Fuel Crisis developed to its full intensity.

Without them - and this has been impressed upon us during the Fuel Crisis - industry would stagnate and die.

Commander Noble asked the Minister of Education what arrangements are being made during the Present Fuel Crisis to ensure adequate lighting in school classrooms.

Mr. Tomlinson: The erection of the additional hut classrooms has been held up temporarily by delay in the supply of essential parts, caused by the Recent Fuel Crisis.

No notice was taken of those warnings until we drifted into a Fuel Crisis.

The fortuitous circumstance has arisen that we have had a Fuel Crisis.

Sir R. Ross asked the Minister of Transport how many of the ships employed during the Present Fuel Crisis for carrying passengers from Great Britain to the Continent of Europe are, respectively coal burning or propelled by liquid fuel.

Mr. Sparks asked the Minister of Transport what arrangements have been made to provide transport for workers engaged upon staggered hours of duty, including night-work, arising from the resumption of work in industry following the Fuel Crisis.

We have carved out of our economic resources one quarter of all the good and useful things of life - after the Recent Fuel Crisis and after what the right hon. Gentleman has said today it may amount to one-third - and sent those good things overseas.

There is, as everybody knows, now a good deal of congestion in the printing of these things; it does take a long time to get reports printed; and it did happen to run into the Fuel Crisis at the beginning of the year.

Mr. Thomas Brooks asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will remove the cuts recently made in the size of local weekly newspapers on account of the Fuel Crisis, since a similar restriction has been lifted from the daily and evening newspapers and the weekly newspapers are read by a large public for their local news.

how many requests were received for these during the Fuel Crisis; and how many have actually been issued.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will remove the cuts recently made in the size of local weekly newspapers on account of the Fuel Crisis, since a similar restriction has been lifted from the daily and evening newspapers and the weekly newspapers are read by a large public for their local news.

Mr. Gammans asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the estimated loss in the production of boots and shoes for the first quarter of 1947 as a result of the Fuel Crisis.

Mrs. Wills asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the effect of the Fuel Crisis on production is yet sufficiently established for him to make a definite announcement of the period for which the present issue of clothing coupons will have to last.

Mr. Sutcliffe asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the decrease in output of cotton yarn, which during the Fuel Crisis fell to one-third of current normal production, will affect the present or future issues of clothing coupons and the maintenance of exports.

Mr. Vane asked the President of the Board of Trade on what grounds discrimination is being exercised against local weekly newspapers, whose recent pre-Fuel Crisis allocation of paper is only being restored in part, whilst that of daily newspapers is being restored in full.

Mr. Proctor asked the Minister of Labour how many men have been refused re-employment after the general resumption of work at the end of the Fuel Crisis in the Manchester area.

Boot and shoe production, effect of Fuel Crisis, 285.

Generators, and loan during Fuel Crisis, 235.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the effect of the Fuel Crisis on production is yet sufficiently established for him to make a definite announcement of the period for which the present issue of clothing coupons will have to last.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the decrease in output of cotton yarn, which during the Fuel Crisis fell to one-third of current normal production, will affect the present or future issues of clothing coupons and the maintenance of exports.

asked the Minister of Labour how many men have been refused re-employment after the general resumption of work at the end of the Fuel Crisis in the Manchester area.

We are doing these things sometimes in the face of almost insuperable difficulties, and the difficulties have been added to during the last two or three months by the Fuel Crisis, by the weather, by the disruption of transport, and so on; but I assure the hon. Member and the House that we will do our utmost until we have broken the back of this dreadful unemployment problem.

State interference and State control represent a mortal danger to all those three, but are most dangerous to distribution, because in distribution there is more detail, and you must leave it to the man on the spot to decide how this or that should be distributed or conveyed, and that interference with the economy of distribution is the main reason - I have this on the highest authority, from a Member of the Government; I will not give his name for it would not be fair - for the Fuel Crisis the month before last.

It was very much too low even at the time that the White Paper was drafted, which was before the Fuel Crisis.

That gap was calculated before the Fuel Crisis.

It has had the misfortune of the Fuel Crisis, which, I believe, was a crisis that might well have been avoided.

The fall in the prices of gilt-edged securities consequent on the Fuel Crisis must, I think, have come as rather a rude shock to the Chancellor, indicating as it did a reversal or semi-reversal of public sentiment in that respect.

The Chancellor told us in his Budget speech that the revenue consequences of the February Fuel Crisis would not manifest themselves, he thought, during the present financial year.

We have been through a Fuel Crisis, and we are now facing a food crisis.

I am aware of the present shortage of milk cartons which is due to the stoppage of the paper mills during the Fuel Crisis.

The closing of the factory during the Fuel Crisis caused some further delay.

and if he expects that the greater turnover in 1947, estimated before the Fuel Crisis, will now materialise.

weekly newspapers during the Fuel Crisis and permit the publication of alternate issues of eight and 10 pages.

The supply of replacement tyres, for commercial vehicles which was slowly overtaking demand has received a temporary set-back owing to the Fuel Crisis.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is now in a position to state the percentage of current supplies of men's wear involved in sending out 5,000,000 garments to troops overseas; and if he expects that the greater turnover in 1947, estimated before the Fuel Crisis, will now materialise.

Will the Minister say what reduction in this export will be caused by the Fuel Crisis?

Production of tractor tyres generally is limited at present by materials and labour difficulties which have been accentuated by the Fuel Crisis.

I hope that the worst of the shortage due to the Fuel Crisis will soon be past.

Even recently we have passed through a Fuel Crisis of some magnitude, and it is to meet emergencies and contingencies of that character that I feel it is an advantage to leave the position free.

The Railway Executive - that is, the four general managers of the railway companies - under the Control Agreement, is ostensibly under the control of the Minister, but that form of control is exercised only in a general way to deal with emergencies such as the Fuel Crisis, through which we have recently passed.

During the time when we were restricted in the use of electricity during the Fuel Crisis I found it impossible to run my home satisfactorily without to some extent evading the Orders which had been imposed upon us.

We are all as anxious as hon. Members opposite to try to help the country through the Fuel Crisis.

But when the Fuel Crisis came they dismissed the officer and, throughout every department, used coal indiscriminately.

When the Fuel Crisis occurred, hon. and right hon. Gentlemen opposite said that we should have exercised more foresight last year; we should not have wasted our substance, by which they meant that we ought not to have wasted coal.

Dr. Edith Summerskill: I am informed that there has not been a prolonged shortage of all types of soap in the Sittingbourne area, although deliveries have been somewhat delayed as a result of the Fuel Crisis.

The experience of the winter through which we have just passed - I am referring now to the Fuel Crisis - was again a reminder of the importance of the transport industry and of the severe difficulties under which transport is operating at the present moment.

Mr. Willis asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what will be the effect of the Fuel Crisis upon the 1947 housing programme for Scotland.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what will be the effect of the Fuel Crisis upon the 1947 housing programme for Scotland.

I regret that there is still a general shortage of prams, but despite an uneven flow of components due to the Fuel Crisis, and a reduction in raw material allocations, which will affect output in the latter part of the year, we estimate that some 300,000 prams will be produced during the next six months.

The delivery of the 20 locomotives on order from the United Kingdom, which was scheduled to begin in August, has, I regret to say, been set back owing to the Fuel Crisis, and may not now bepossible before the end of the year.

collections in London, which were suspended during the Recent Fuel Crisis.

asked the Minister of Health if he has now considered the housing programme for 1947 in the light of the industrial dislocation caused by the Fuel Crisis; and what effect this is likely to have on the number of houses to be built.

We have recently had a Fuel Crisis which affected the production of paper and caused it to fall short of estimated requirements in every paper using industry.

Mr. Wilson: Supplies of mending wool have decreased because of the loss of production during the Fuel Crisis, but I have no information to suggest that the shortage is worse in Southern England than elsewhere.

I have a copy of a letter written by the late Parliamentary Secretary which indicated that owing to the Fuel Crisis.

To meet the greatly increased demand due to the rising birthrate, I arranged last autumn for production of baby wool to he increased, but some output was unavoidably lost during the Fuel Crisis.

Sir S. Cripps: The new basis of rationing for newspapers which was introduced in March was designed to allow the weekly newspapers (other than Sundays) the same consumption of newsprint as they were given prior to the reduction made at the time of the Fuel Crisis.

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that farmers in Norfolk who were instructed to send their sugar beet to Felstead when the Cantley factory was closed during the Fuel Crisis have, as a result, lost the value of 1½ cwt.

He is likely also, in spite of the declaration that he wants only to borrow for the creation of capital assets, to have to borrow owing to the difficulties of supply, the uncertainties of the time, and the after effects of the Fuel Crisis, which are still continuing.

Mr. Belcher: The inquiry into retail margins for footwear which was begun some months ago was suspended until some estimates could be made of the effects of the Fuel Crisis on turnover during 1947.

At 10th March some of the workpeople who were stood off from employment owing to the Fuel Crisis were receiving wages under guaranteed week and other arrangements and consequently did not register as unemployed.

Is the Minister bearing in mind that the underlying cause of this strike is apparently the design of the firm to victimise certain employees - using the Fuel Crisis as a basis - by refusing to reemploy them?

Housing, programme, and effect of Fuel Crisis, Scotland, 195.

It would certainly be wrong if egg cups were being manufactured to the detriment of cups and saucers or tea pots or anything else, so I made an investigation and the answer was that there are large quantities of egg cups being manufactured, and there were during the Fuel Crisis.

So far, we have not made any increase expressly for growing children, but I hope it will be possible to give them that increased scale which was introduced last year so that the children will suffer much less than other people from the cut male as a result of the Fuel Crisis.

I listened with very great attention right throughout the day to practically all the speeches made, and I came away very disappointed, because so little attention was paid to the practical everyday problems of the housewife on whose efforts, equally with those of the miner, will depend the success or failure of the campaign to avoid a repetition of last winter's Fuel Crisis.

Does not the Minister realise that owing to the Fuel Crisis and to the demand for shorter hours and higher wages, and to the decreasing output per man-hour, Cmd.

During the Fuel Crisis, a weekly magazine in this country took some statements from various men in the street regarding the way in which the fuel crisis had affected them.

The Fuel Crisis was blamed for that.

There are always amendments of this sort, but the number was materially increased on this occasion owing to the heavy delay in the printing programme caused by the Fuel Crisis.

I would add that that was in spite of the Fuel Crisis.

For this Index last month not only wrote off the Fuel Crisis losses; it reached a higher level thanthat established at the end of January, before the crisis.

First, that the maximum quantity of coal available to this country will be imported from the U.S.A. to avoid the possibilities of Another Fuel Crisis?

The North of England suffered considerably during the Recent Fuel Crisis in loss of wages, owing to the industrial shutdown.

Is the Minister unaware that there was a Fuel Crisis when he decided to export this cement, and is he aware that in Cornwall and the West of England the housing programme is considerably curtailed because of the lack of cement?

And the Fuel Crisis.

I think the right hon. Gentleman should have had some consultation with his right hon. colleague the Minister of Fuel and Power before he delivered his reply; because when we were in the Fuel Crisis the Minister was at great pains to impress upon us that it was entirely due to the war.

It is because we are in a Fuel Crisis and are likely to be for some time.

They were put on because we were assured that too much electricity and gas was being consumed, and having regard to what was called the Fuel Crisis, but which was, perhaps, more accurately described as the temporary interruption of electricity supplies, it would be desirable to impose a brake, which hitherto had not been imposed, on the increasing acquisition of these electricity-using and, to a less extent, gas-using, implements.

Anyone would think that there had been no Fuel Crisis last winter, when an hon. Member advocates the removal of restrictions on purchases of that sort.

I should have thought it was for the Government to say that the expected Fuel Crisis - and I am perfectly certain we shall have one as a result of the Government's policy - bore directly upon coal, and not upon the electricity stations.

I am quite certain that the Fuel Crisis, which we had in the early months of this year will ultimately have a far greater effect on our building programme than the effect of the weather during the month of March.

I find that in February, when the Fuel Crisis was at its height, production dropped to 192,000 tons.

Mr. Belcher: The manufacturers have recently increased their capacity for making preserving-bottles and are doing their best to make up the ground lost during the Fuel Crisis.

Output during 1946 was about 16 per cent greater than in 1945, but there was an unavoidable loss during the Fuel Crisis early this year.

Deliveries are steadily improving, now that manufacturers are catching up with the production lost during the Fuel Crisis.

Supplies of worsted yarn generally are scarce owing to the lack of skilled labour in the wool industry and the effects of the Fuel Crisis early this year, but output is now increasing and I hope the position will shortly improve.

We shall also be told about the financial position, the Fuel Crisis, the shortage of labour and raw materials, and the magnitude of the task of conversion from war to peace.

I think we can say that, before the Recent Fuel Crisis, we had reason to feel proud of the smooth transition which we had made from war to peace production in this country, and that there was every sign at the beginning of this year that, if things had gone on in that direction, there would have been a considerable lessening of austerity throughout this year.

I think we can say that, before the recent Fuel Crisis, we had reason to feel proud of the smooth transition which we had made from war to peace production in this country, and that there was every sign at the beginning of this year that, if things had gone on in that direction, there would have been a considerable lessening of austerity throughout this year.

It is a melancholy fact that when, five months ago, we first considered the Bill, the occasion should have coincided with the beginning of the Fuel Crisis, and that today's proceedings should coincide with that very austere statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

It is at times such as Dunkirk, and more recently during the Fuel Crisis in the early part of this war, that we are able to appreciate the courage and devotion to duty of services of this kind in our Island's economy.

The general shortage of supplies was aggravated by the loss of output during the Fuel Crisis early this year, but production is now increasing and I hope the position in the shops will shortly improve.

"— —and, by the way, we have never had an explanation of how the Fuel Crisis affected the Post Office— "now it is the need to reduce the Civil Service, though enthusiasm in that cause is not very noticeable elsewhere.

The first reason given was the Fuel Crisis, and the second was the manpower situation.

Then came the Fuel Crisis and various other matters, includ-ing the need for men in productive industry.

They had only run for some three weeks when the Fuel Crisis and the amount of sick leave made it impossible for us to continue with the late delivery and collection.

At one time, the Fuel Crisis was the excuse;" - - and, by the way, we have never had an explanation of how the fuel crisis affected the Post Office - now it is the need to reduce the Civil Service, though enthusiasm in that cause is not very noticeable elsewhere.

They were taken from us on two counts - firstly, the Fuel Crisis, and, secondly, the shortage of manpower.

I come now to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Mr. Keeling) who has repeatedly raised the question of the inefficiency of the Post Office, and who has said that he has never had an explanation - and one or two other hon. Members have said the same thing - why the services which were put on at the beginning of this year, on 20th January, were withdrawn at the end of the Fuel Crisis.

Sir S. Cripps: Precise estimates of the loss of production due to the Fuel Crisis cannot be made but output of cotton and spun rayon yarn by the cotton industry in February and March was about 38 million lb.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how many copies of "Fuel Crisis and You" have been printed; and what is the basis of distribution.

The point I am trying to make is that it was clear in the Fuel Crisis that electricity and gas consumption was going up rapidly, and that coal was not being produced fast enough to meet it, and that therefore there would be a crisis some time.

The Fuel Crisis considerably injured the recruitment of labour for the textile industry.

I say to the Government in all seriousness that the one thing which this country will never forgive will be a repe-tition next winter of the Fuel Crisis from which we suffered a few months ago.

But the President of the Board of Trade informs me that, owing to the good recovery of the textile industries from the Fuel Crisis, he will be able to start the new ration period on 1st October instead of 1st November as he previously announced.

I am certain that the programme was drawn up before the Fuel Crisis and the blizzard.

I suggest that there are many Members opposite who now consider that the Fuel Crisis which occurred last year was not inevitable, that if the recruiting campaign had been made earlier, and if proper allocation had been made we should not have had the crisis.

It has for some time been difficult to meet the demand for registered letter envelopes, which is about double what it was before the war, and the Fuel Crisis resulted in a serious fall in output which is only now being overtaken.

Cotton and rayon cloth and yarn, loss of production due to Fuel Crisis, 173.

Leaflet "Fuel Crisis and You," 1497.

"Fuel Crisis and You" leaflet, 1497.

Mr. Leonard: The production of surgical dressings and gauze was to some extent interrupted by the Fuel Crisis but is now adequate to meet essential needs.

Is not the same mistake as was made last year being repeated, namely, of exporting fuel urgently needed in this country, and will not such a policy, if pursued, aggravate the Fuel Crisis in the coming winter?

The right hon. Gentleman did not tell us whether there was going to be a Fuel Crisis this winter, nor did he express the hope that we would avoid a fuel crisis this winter.

As the right hon. Gentleman now puts the main problem on the question of supplies, is he satisfied, andcan he satisfy the House that, in turn, the Minister of Supply is providing him with all the necessary supplies he needs, for he will recall that one of the main reasons for the Fuel Crisis was a transport breakdown, and we cannot afford to have such a breakdown again?

Many such cases arose after the Recent Fuel Crisis.

Members are aware that during the Fuel Crisis it was imperative to maintain the economic life of this country when certain action had to he taken in regard to the use of transport for the transport of coal.

During the Fuel Crisis, surplus generators which were going to be auctioned were suddenly brought into the market and sold at very short notice.

In point of fact it would be interesting to know, and worth while spending some time in finding out, to what extent last February's Fuel Crisis was due primarily to the shortage of wagons, because many pits, even last summer, were lying idle because of shortage of wagons.

We had a bad dose of that in the Recent Fuel Crisis.

The latest published figures show that we are, in the main, back to where we were before the Fuel Crisis began; that is, we are back to the close season for building, and this at what should be the height of the building season.

Then the Fuel Crisis overcame us.

Mr. John Lewis asked the Minister of Fuel and Power to what extent it became necessary to rely upon road transport for the movement of coal during the Fuel Crisis.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power to what extent it became necessary to rely upon road transport for the movement of coal during the Fuel Crisis.

The Fuel Crisis of February and March caused great damage to our agriculture and to our industry.

That was true in the case of food, that has been true in the Fuel Crisis, and still more has it been true in the dollar crisis which we are discussing today.

That programme cannot be carried out unless more coal is available than was the case lastwinter due to the Fuel Crisis.

In the Fuel Crisis, a great glass works was making windows for houses, and this work was thought to be so essential that they were given a 50 per cent.

Fourteen new locomotives have, however, recently arrived from Canada and it is hoped that twenty additional Vulcans, originally to be delivered this year but delayed in production owing to the Fuel Crisis, will be in operation in Nigeria early in 1948.

I say this because when the weekly newspapers were suppressed during the Fuel Crisis, no executive suppression was brought into play, but before the editors of those papers knew what was happening, they found that their papers were not coming out.

That was true of the Fuel Crisis last winter, and it is true also of the balance of payments crisis with which we are confronted now.

Thirdly, when it was clear that the mess caused by the Fuel Crisis last winter had resulted in a loss of exportable production of £200 million worth of goods, action should have been taken at once.

Arrivals could not begin earlier because the only immediate source of supply of suitable tractors at the beginning of this year was from military surpluses in this country, and the Fuel Crisis delayed the overhaul of the machines and their transport to port.

First, the Fuel Crisis.

They even suggested that we manufactured the Fuel Crisis, or had something to do with the cold weather of last winter.

There are about 700,000 packs and approximately 700,000 miners, and this decision was reached during the Fuel Crisis when we felt it was necessary to give extra rations to the miners.

I said that because I had been attacked and accused by him and a great many other hon. Members, and told that after the Fuel Crisis would come a food crisis in that year before the harvest came in, and I was able to say on 1st July that, not without difficulty and not without straining the resources of the import of food into the country, it was clear that we had got through to harvest without a food crisis.

He went on to say that as a result of the Fuel Crisis and various other matters, including the need for men in productive industry and they decided to cut the services and reduce the number of men accordingly.

ration during the Fuel Crisis in March last.

I have the impression very strongly that the tempo of production is better - or, in other words, that practically all the dislocation caused by the Fuel Crisis has now been overcome.

A year ago, when the Fuel Crisis swept the nation, that fuel crisis caused special problems for Wales and set back the Welsh factory building programme.

I am excluding the short period of the Fuel Crisis in these figures.

This decision was made during the Fuel Crisis when we felt that we should give our miners every encouragement.

Let all remember the Fuel Crisis of 1947, when some of us for weeks spent much of our time in prophesying what was going to take place.

I am not so sure about 50 years ago, but it is a fact that, last year, owing to the Fuel Crisis and the manpower crisis, the late services were taken off.

The main reason for the delay has been, as the Committee know, the shortage of labour both on the building side and on the technical side - shortage of materials and components - and, above all, the Fuel Crisis of a year ago.

In the same way, hon. Members opposite said that the nationalisation of coal mines failed because of the Fuel Crisis at the beginning of last year.

On the question of supply, paragraph 29 of the White Paper says: "The Fuel Crisis of February, 1947, and difficulties experienced throughout the year in supply of labour and materials for the production of equipment for the Services, have caused severe dislocation of the 1947–48 production programmes … It has been possible to provide for little more than the minimum requirements of maintenance … In order to free the industry for manufacture for export, it has been decided to continue the policy of placing no orders for new vehicles with certain minor exceptions".

When people come down to the seaside resorts, about which the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. C. S. Taylor) has spoken so well, they very often come down there in the hope of being able to travel about a bit, and that is why before the Present Fuel Crisis, these men were given the opportunity of starting this business.

I have already told theHouse that our actual rate of export in 1947 - in spite of the shortages of manpower and materials, and in spite of the Fuel Crisis - was at a rate which, had we been operating against a background of pre-war conditions pre-war investment income, shipping income, ratio between import and export prices and so on - would have produced a balance sheet over last year considerably better than was achieved in far easier circumstances in 1938.

The Fuel Crisis must be represented not as the failure of the Minister but as the act of God.

There is one pamphlet later which deals with fuel and again the Fuel Crisis, through which we passed in the Winter before last, was entirely caused by the weather.

I pass over the Fuel Crisis of last year and turn to the target for this year.

Immediately prior to the Fuel Crisis our supplies of glass tubing from G.E.C. Wembley and Webbs Crystal Glass Co. dried up; for six weeks we had no production, no capital reserves and being Americans no useful financial contacts in England.

Referring to the President of the Board of Trade, the writer says:The interesting part which he suppressed is this - for four months prior to the Fuel Crisis we wrote, interviewed, pleaded and finally begged the Board of Trade to allow us to import tubing from France.

Last year, our national exports, in spite of the difficulties of the Fuel Crisis, and so on, would have been sufficient, against the 1938 background of invisible earnings - world prices, shipping income, and so on - to have shown a better result or the international account than was actually achieved in 1938.

It can also be seen from that Table how the Fuel Crisis, early in 1947, checked the rising tide of our exports and so set us back in our overseas balance.

The Tories hope in their hearts that we may have a duplication of the Fuel Crisis, or that some calamity may overtake the nation and retard its progress and redevelopment.

Instead of having a Fuel Crisis, as we had nearly two years ago in the icy days of winter, if a Conservative Government had been returned in 1945 we would have had a fuel crisis in the golden summer days of July, 1945.

But that is rather misleading, for 1947 was an exceptionally unfavourable year because of the Fuel Crisis.

I have been told that what has happened ever since the Fuel Crisis in the winter of 1946–47, is that the Ministry of Fuel and Power have over-riding power over the other Departments, and that nothing the other Ministries can do will stop them if they wish to take over another area.

increase of production over 1947 - if, indeed, it can be measured; I am granting that for the moment - 1947 was the year of the Fuel Crisis; it was not a normal year at all.

In his speech today the right hon. and gallant Member for Gains-borough said maybe production was up quite a lot on 1947 but that was not particularly good because 1947 was an absolutely shocking year, including the Fuel Crisis.

For instance, it would be quite impossible for any blame for the Fuel Crisis to be placed on anyone but Members of the Front Bench opposite.

The Fuel Crisis, and the mismanagement of our affairs in that year, meant very low production.

The state of the coal industry when we came into power was extremely parlous, and we all know that as a result of that, and the steady decline in stocks during the last few years of the war, we were faced with, and eventually ran into, a Fuel Crisis.

I was saying that conversion schemes did not proceed too quickly to start with, but after the Fuel Crisis there was a rush and we had to find something like 5 or 6 million tons of extra oil by the Spring or early Summer of 1947.

If it is the policy of the Opposition that all Government information services should be abolished, what becomes of the argument which was heardat the time of the Fuel Crisis and at other times?

In 1947, though our own recovery was under way, we were still in the middle of the process of re-conversion and re-deployment, which had itself been checked by the Fuel Crisis in February of that year.

There was a Fuel Crisis with two million out.

That was followed shortly afterwards by the Fuel Crisis, and in due course by the resignation of Sir Charles Reid and Mr. Gridley, followed at a later stage by the setting up of an inquiry by the Burrows Committee, to which I shall refer again.

In 1947, at the time of the Fuel Crisis, which lost us £200 million worth of production of exportable goods, the shortage of wagons was a most important element in that crisis.

, except during the Fuel Crisis, it is the fact that the positive addition to civil employment is materially greater, and that in civil employment the number of people working, which is an even stiffer test, is much greater.

Comparisons with 1947 are vitiated by the Fuel Crisis of that year, but it is worthy of remark that during the three years 1947, 1948 and 1949 the Government set the steel industry a target between a minimum of 41,750,000 tons and 42,500,000 tons.

May I remind the right hon. Gentleman, because he was not in his present office then - he was in another - that the reduction in collection and delivery facilities was announced as being directly due to the incidence of the Fuel Crisis of 1947?

Had either of them been really cold, we should have been faced with a Fuel Crisis similar to that which overtook the country in 1947.

That seems to be a most extraordinary argument - the sort of argument that his predecessor used during the Fuel Crisis, that it was not fair to have an electric light on in Fort William if you could not have an electric light on in London, despite the fact that the light in Fort William was provided by hydro-electric power.

As I said, in the Economic Survey devaluation is dismissed almost in silence, and where it is mentioned in passing it is delicately suggested, as in the Fuel Crisis, that it was not the Government but the bad economic weather that was to blame.

Then, in 1947, we had the Fuel Crisis, as a result of which, by direction, we had to cut services by 10 per cent.

I have already pointed out that when we had the Fuel Crisis in 1947, due to the weather - [Interruption.

I would mention the Fuel Crisis of three years ago, on which the Government were warned six months before by hon. Members on this side of the House.

He started by talking about the Fuel Crisis, among other things, and eventually got as far as Australia.

Stocks for industry naturally give any Government cause for great concern, because this country could not tolerate an approach to a Fuel Crisis such as we had some years ago and we cannot reckon upon reasonable temperatures for winter.

I want to see done what was done when there was the Fuel Crisis and there was the danger of a wagon shortage.

In view of the increasing consumption which is expected, is the Minister satisfied that we shall not run into a Fuel Crisis in the spring of next year unless further action is taken?

Mr. Robson-Brown asked the Minister of Fuel and Power, in view of the Threatening Fuel Crisis this winter, if he will, in good time, prohibit the lighting of shop windows, flood lighting, and similar non-essential use of power after hours in order to conserve power for essential industrial requirements, and reduce power cuts and the hardships to householders.

I hope the House will bear with me for a few minutes while I raise a somewhat different aspect of the Fuel Crisis through which the country is passing.

Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if, in view of the serious fall in coal stocks during the past weeks, he will make a further statement on the plans of His Majesty's Government to avoid a Fuel Crisis.

The only comment I shall make on the Minister's glowing promises is that they remind me of the statement of the Minister of Defence before the Fuel Crisis of 1947.

they would not have given greater benefits to the miners; and the point is that we should have had a Fuel Crisis years ago, and British productivity would not have reached the height at which it is now.

Unless the weather becomes milder, we are told by the Parliamentary Secretary that the prospects of averting Another Fuel Crisis "are all very gloomy".

Said the right hon. Gentleman:Everyone knows there is going to be a Serious Fuel Crisis save the Minister of Fuel.

Unless the weather becomes milder, we are told by the Parliamentary Secretary that the prospects of averting another Fuel Crisis "are all very gloomy".

The Parliamentary Secretary agreed that as from September it was clear that there was a real danger of Another Fuel Crisis.

It may be that the increase has been more rapid than was anticipated, but bad weather and the increase in domestic and industrial consumption are all matters - particularly after the Fuel Crisis of 1947 - which should have been very much in the mind of the Minister in deciding the safety level to build up to during the summer months.

It is a very material point to put to him that up to a few weeks ago, when, indeed, This Fuel Crisis was obvious to everyone except the right hon. Gentleman, these monopolies, which he controls, were acting in precisely a contrary sense.

That shows that if hon. Gentlemen opposite had been in power and dealing with this industry, apparently they would not have increased the price of coal; they would not have given greater benefits to the miners; and the point is that we should have had a Fuel Crisis years ago, and British productivity would not have reached the height at which it is now.

- to the Fuel Crisis of 1947.

If I may use a rough phrase, I would say that the Government are riding the Fuel Crisis on the back of the British housewife - and that is administrative failure.

Brigadier Clarke asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how much money has been spent by his Department since the beginning of the Fuel Crisis asking the public to save fuel.

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power how much money has been spent by his Department since the beginning of the Fuel Crisis asking the public to save fuel.

By suppressing all the inconvenient things like the Fuel Crisis - they did not have to go back to the Battle of Waterloo for that - the convertibility crisis, the Daltonian inflation, rising prices, and so forth, they have been able to dish the whole thing up in a sort of illuminated address to the Government - no doubt, all ready for the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain.

Previous Economic Surveys, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Alder-shot (Mr. Lyttelton) reminded us, failed to foresee the Fuel Crisis, the convertibility crisis and so on, but this Economic Survey is franker and certainly more realistic.

We were told that the Fuel Crisis was due to the exceptionally cold winter.

If there is to be a Fuel Crisis, the question of purchasing coal from the United States should have been considered weeks ago, and not left until the late summer or early autumn before the Government make up their minds.

Owing to past policies, it may well be that we shall face trouble with a Fuel Crisis.

Does the Prime Minister realise that many on this side will welcome that further review whichhe says he is going to undertake, because obviously the danger of a Fuel Crisis is far greater than that of a military crisis?

Production has stopped rising for the first time since the Fuel Crisis.

The Fuel Crisis, hon. Members will remember, was as much a crisis of transport as it was a crisis of fuel.

Reference was made to what happened in 1947, when we had a Fuel Crisis, and there was a division of view about whether it was a matter for the Ministry of Transport or for the Ministry of Fuel and Power.

One can leave out 1946, perhaps, because the figure was distorted by demobilisation, and one can leave out 1947 because of similar distortion owing to the Fuel Crisis, but when one looks from 1948 onwards the normal pattern has been one in which unemployment has reached its lowest in July; its highest in winter; and then has fallen gradually in the spring to the lower summer figure again.

I think that was brought home very forcibly during the Fuel Crisis.

In 1947 it is true that in the first three months there was excessive unemployment, for reasons of which we are all aware - the Fuel Crisis and the very severe winter of that year -but even taking that into account, if we take the monthly average for 1947 and compare it with that for 1952, we find that last year's monthly average was higher even than in 1947, with its shocking fuel crisis.

In the sort of coal situation that we are likely to have in this country for about 10 years ahead even a small saving of coal might be important and might make the difference in future between having and not having a Fuel Crisis.

I know that in one case it is stated that houses were held back in one year because of a Fuel Crisis.

Is there any chance of finding time to debate the coal situation and the Coal Board's Report, in view of the fact that many people in the industry fear that there will be a Fuel Crisis this coining winter?

Yes, Sir, but it must be remembered that the Fuel Crisis of 1947 was caused by the fact that perhaps only 1 per cent.

at the same time, if we export too much in relation to production at any given time we shall cause a Fuel Crisis in the succeeding winter.

It is very desirable to export as much as possible; at the same time, if we export too much in relation to production at any given time we shall cause a Fuel Crisis in the succeeding winter.

And a Fuel Crisis and revaluation.

Should not every proposal for recruiting more miners be very carefully reconsidered in view of the serious shortage of man-power and the prospects of a Fuel Crisis?

I am just putting the figures from our point of view, and incidentally the average figure I quoted for the period from 1946 to 1951 included the 1947 Fuel Crisis, when the figures rose to over 100,000 during one or two months.

, except for a few weeks during the Fuel Crisis of 1947.

If we disregard the dislocation caused by the Fuel Crisis in 1947, unemployment reached its post-war peak in April, 1952, when the figure for the United Kingdom as a whole was 468,000.

It is called a Fuel Crisis, but in the inter-war years there were crises in every miner's home in the country, economic crises which the Conservative Party of that day lifted tot a finger to resolve.

We did the job during the war and during the Fuel Crisis of 1947, as the hon. Member for Kidderminster knows.

The curious anomaly which we are today debating arises from I think, the Finance Act, 1947, when, following the Fuel Crisis of that year, the Labour Government imposed a 66 2–3rd per cent.

I am not prepared to enter into a controversial discussion with the hon. Member about the causes of the Fuel Crisis of 1947.

I submit that it is indefensible on tax grounds, that it came into existence simply and solely because of the Fuel Crisis of 1947 and the action taken thereafter in the Finance Bill of 1947 and that, now the rate of tax is being raised on the other heaters from 50 per cent.

it is dangerous because it may encourage the producers of coal to limit or suspend their long-term investment plans, and thus provoke a more Serious Fuel Crisis in the future than any which has so far arisen".

It is misleading because there is no evidence to support it; it is dangerous because it may encourage the producers of coal to limit or suspend their long-term investment plans, and thus provoke a more Serious Fuel Crisis in the future than any which has so far arisen.

If we get a difficult or bad winter, we might once again have a Fuel Crisis.

Unemployment in Birmingham and the Midlands area is worse today than at any period since the Fuel Crisis of 1947.

I fully appreciate the energy of the hon. Member for Ladywood and some of his friends in investigating the difficulties of unemployment facing his constituents and others in Birmingham and the Midlands, but he is not quite accurate in suggesting that this is the highest figure since the Fuel Crisis.

It seems to me that we are having a Fuel Crisis in reverse.

The decrease for Great Britain, is the biggest decrease in unemployment, with the exception of the 1947 Fuel Crisis year, in any March since the war, and it is the biggest decrease in any month since the months of 1947.

I remember when I first got up as a back bencher some eight years ago and said that the only way to avoid a coal and Fuel Crisis, which I felt would come from a too great dependence on imported oil, was to make full use of our indigenous fuel resources and to put a great deal of money quickly into the building of carbonisation plants so that we could get full value from the coal and a great increase in gas production.

If we are not to get that, then indeed we shall shortly pass into a Fuel Crisis again.

That Act was introduced on account of the Fuel Crisis and it was used until the year 1952, when the use of the Act lapsed.

It seems to me, if one is to use the hon. Gentleman's argument, the most sensible thing to do would be to shut down all the pits and turn exclusively to oil, because then, when difficulty came in the shape of a Fuel Crisis in the year 2,000 A.D. or of serious war, we should still have our coal reserves underground and could get at them when we needed them.

I believe that part of South Crofty had to close after the 1947 Fuel Crisis.

Domestic stocks, I understand, are only fractionally above the danger level for the coming winter and I am sure that if we can impress even now on the consumers that they should stock up before we get the really cold spell - and if they are forewarned that it is possible that we may get a very bad cold period during the winter - a Fuel Crisis will be avoided.

That is the highest figure since the war, except for a short period during the Fuel Crisis.

What about the Fuel Crisis?

In view of the Fuel Crisis through which we are at present passing and the statement just made by the Minister of Power, will the right hon. Gentleman consider providing time for a full debate on the crisis and the future capital investment programme which is required?

Anyone with any human feeling can appreciate how difficult things are for widows in the Present Fuel Crisis.

Mr. Neal asked the Minister of Power if, in view of the present difficulties in road haulage, he will give a general direction to the National Coal Board that a larger proportion of coal be rail-borne and thus eliminate the possibility of Fuel Crisis when adequate supplies of coal are available in the producing areas.

and whether he is aware of the industrial consequences in the area caused by the Present Fuel Crisis.

The total of 815,000 for January,which was 248,000 more than the December figure, was the largest since the Fuel Crisis of 1947, when the number of unemployed rose to 1,800,000.

In retrospect, hon. Members opposite must feel ashamed that they made him responsible for the freeze-up and the Fuel Crisis of that time.

Mr. Shinwell asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate has been made by his Department of the total financial loss sustained by the nation as a result of the Fuel Crisis.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate has been made by his Department of the total financial loss sustained by the nation as a result of the Fuel Crisis.

Fuel Crisis, financial loss, 1097–8.

If the old folk were aware of the generosity of the Assistance Board in helping them over the Fuel Crisis, there would be little necessity for this sort of thing.

Would my right hon. Friend say whether the situation at present is not similar to thesituation 18 years ago, in 1947, when 900,000 tons of coal remained at the sidings and at the pits and it was impossible to move them when the so-called Fuel Crisis occurred?

The Chairman of the Electricity Council, Sir Ronald Edwards, told the Committee that when there is a Fuel Crisis, a shortage of fuels generally and very severe weather, if coal cannot be delivered, if the gas supply fails and the oil tankers do not get through, people turn out their spare electric radiators in their lofts and lumber rooms and plug them in.

In 1947, during a Serious Fuel Crisis, an Act was passed which provided for summer time to be varied in any year by Order in Council.

In 1947, during the Serious Fuel Crisis, an Act was passed which provided for the period of summer time laid down in the Summer Time Acts of 1922–1925 to be varied for any year by Order in Council.

But what is more significant still is not just that the June figure is the worst since 1940, but that, seasonally adjusted, the wholly unemployed figure now, in June, is slightly higher than even the peak at the winter time of the 1963 figures and is perhaps the highest figure, except for peaks like a Fuel Crisis, since the war.

If the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues will refrain from quoting figures for February, 1963 - that was the most severe winter of the century- I and my hon. Friends will undertake to refrain from quoting figures for 1947, the year of the Fuel Crisis.

We have a Fuel Crisis of the first magnitude.

If I now say to the Minister that I shall raise the subjects of the Fuel Crisis and electricity supply, if I catch your eye, Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding any agreement which may or may not have been made between the two Front Benches, will I not be able to discuss it?

With the exception of the one Fuel Crisis month of February, 1947, unemployment has been lower in every month for 31½ years until this month.

The country is facing a very Serious Fuel Crisis and it is not only the mining communities that will suffer.

The Government must wake up to the fact that they will shortly have a Fuel Crisis on their hands if they do not reach a fair settlement which will satisfy the miners in the struggle in which they are now engaged.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Government's total mismanagement of the Present Fuel Crisis will postpone the pick-up of the economy and that the immediate-term and short-term outlook for unemployment will be even more depressing?

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Government's total mismanagement of the present Fuel Crisis will postpone the pick-up of the economy and that the immediate-term and short-term outlook for unemployment will be even more depressing?

I pay tribute to the way in which social workers in Willesden have been dealing with old people during the last five weeks, in terms of the Fuel Crisis and other problems.

I do not intend to talk about the Persian Gulf but I agree with what he said, particularly at this time of a Fuel Crisis.

Sir K. Joseph: The arrangements were suspended from 14th February, 1972, in view of the employment situation arising from the Fuel Crisis.

Substantial numbers of workers were laid off because of the Fuel Crisis and if those temporarily stopped are included the rate, based on the total number of males registered as unemployed, was 12·9 per cent.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that during the Fuel Crisis caused by the miners' strike and the incompetence of the Government, there was a grave shortage of candles?

Will he now take steps for the production of candles at a much lower price in future against the day when the Government run us into Another Fuel Crisis?

There is a growing realisation in both Russia and America, and we hope in the EEC, that if a Fuel Crisis is to be avoided the production of coal must be increased.

Sir G. Nabarro asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will make a statement on forthcoming petrol supplies having regard to the prognosis of a Fuel Crisis in Western Europe and North America, including a shortage of petrol supplies during the years 1974–75 and thereafter.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will make a statement on forthcoming petrol supplies having regard to the prognosis of a Fuel Crisis in Western Europe and North America, including a shortage of petrol supplies during the years 1974–75 and thereafter.

Does my hon. Friend agree that talk of a Fuel Crisis in the United Kingdom is being thoroughly overdone?

After all, we are facing a Fuel Crisis in the world".

What tips the scales in favour of the tunnel is not French co-operation, or even the environmental considerations, but the possibility of a Fuel Crisis, which has been underlined by recent events.

There is talk of a Fuel Crisis, which could be but temporary.

Before that, on 3rd November, appeared the following: "Fuel Crisis will get worse".

Now that we are in the midst of a Fuel Crisis, no doubt the Secretary of State is following the advice which has been given to him and is coming to work by Tube rather than in a Government limousine.

My hon. Friend should remember that there is a growing Fuel Crisis.

The Fuel Crisis will not disappear even if we settle the miners' dispute at an early date, because one thing that has come through the debate today is that we must sit down and work out an energy policy to ensure that we do not face a similar crisis year after year.

In spite of that, relations within the Community will inevitably be strained as the Fuel Crisis continues.

Mr. Prescott asked the Minister of State for Defence if he will instruct all RAF bases to cease all air military exercises during the Present Fuel Crisis, and in particular at the Bentwaters base.

We have, by, I hope, good stewardship and good stocks, been able to have plenty of warning that a Fuel Crisis was developing which might lead to rationing.

It is appalling that when one of our biggest economic difficulties is the Fuel Crisis and the lack of cheap fuel, as a result of the Prime Minister's obstinacy we are to be driven into a situation where we cannot even get the cheap fuel that we have available because we cannot get the miners to produce it in sufficient quantities.

The first step required is to cope with the Fuel Crisis.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Craigton says, by the time the report was made the Fuel Crisis had radically changed the situation both as regards North Sea oil and, to a lesser extent, as regards tolls on this bridge.

Mr. John Morris asked the Minister of State for Defence what steps he is taking to limit low flying over Wales during the course of the Present Fuel Crisis.

I only wish the Government would stand by their allies abroad in the Fuel Crisis, just as they stand by the decisions of the NIRC ; that they showed the same unyielding resistance to blackmail elsewhere as they do in respect of those who risk their lives every day in this country by going down the pits, risking silicosis and other hazards, destroying their health in the pursuit of coal.

First, the Fuel Crisis has put even greater emphasis on rail travel, and, as these services develop, shorthaul air journeys are likely to prove less attractive.

Since the last debate on the Channel Tunnel we have had a Fuel Crisis.

The first is the situation presented to the country by the Fuel Crisis.

Mr. Mather asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will issue instructions for all street lighting to be switched off at midnight for the duration of the Fuel Crisis.

The hon. Member for Bolsover referred to the minute part that the miners' ban is playing in Our Present Fuel Crisis.

Mr. McCrindle asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, in view of likely future demand for bicycles during the Fuel Crisis, he is satisfied that the supply will be adequate.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, in view of likely future demand for bicycles during the Fuel Crisis, he is satisfied that the supply will be adequate.

I do not know what the effect of the Fuel Crisis will be.

Has it not occurred to them that at some time in the future - let us say 10 years from now - there might be a Real Fuel Crisis?

However, no matter what happens with the Present Fuel Crisis, it is clear that our industry and, indeed, we as individuals will have to face increasing fuel costs, and this makes it even more important that our road system should be as effective and economical in terms of its operational costs as possible.

Thirdly, he raised the matter of the Fuel Crisis.

The company knew that there might be a Fuel Crisis and therefore arranged to have a generator.

and whether his policy towards them has changed in the light of the Current Fuel Crisis.

In the Current Fuel Crisis I have largely eliminated my own use of the helicopter as a method of convenient travel, but I look forward to the day when I can again fly freely in this way.

(2) what steps he is taking to ensure the maximum use of the railway system for the purpose of carrying freight and passengers in the light of the Fuel Crisis and the need to conserve oil.

Mr. Rose asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will reconsider the Piccadilly-Victoria line proposals in Manchester in the light of the Fuel Crisis and the need to cut down on oil consumption.

I am led to believe that most youth clubs are only too willing to help in This Fuel Crisis.

Mr. McMaster asekd the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken to maintain employment in Northern Ireland during the Current Fuel Crisis.

Although there may be some acceleration in the second half of the year, as we all accept, this makes no allowance for the Fuel Crisis.

But in my view it is likely to double - in other words back to more than 1 million - and that is over and above any long-termunemployment resulting directly from the Fuel Crisis.

The lower speed limits introduced during the Present Fuel Crisis are proving the validity of this point.

There is a Fuel Crisis, yet it is impossible to telephone the Ministry.

If the House approves it, as Ihope it will, it will come into effect tomorrow, thus putting motorway speed limits back to where they were before the Fuel Crisis.

As a general principle, I think it would be wrong to use a by-product of the Fuel Crisis as a means of imposing a new set of speed limits on road safety and other criteria.

The first is what can be done to increase the through rail traffic and, secondly, will the growth of road ferry traffic, whether using the Tunnel or the sea ferries, be as great as indicated in the earlier forecasts which were made before the Recent Fuel Crisis?

What is noble about the way in which the Europeans all acted in the Fuel Crisis?

Because of the Fuel Crisis situation in November and December of 1973 and the first few months of 1974 these months have been excluded from the analysis.

The railway line is still in existence from London to Birmingham and Tam-worth to Birmingham, but even in times when we are facing an Acute Fuel Crisis and we are concerned about energy problems empty trains still travel through areas in my constituency and local inhabitants have to use their cars to travel into the cities.

Mr. Mulley: The complications produced by the Fuel Crisis make it difficult 294 to give a short answer.

Mr. William Ross: The production of basic slag, which is a by-product of the manufacture of steel, was affected by the Fuel Crisis of the winter of 1973 as regards United Kingdom production, and by production difficulties on the Continent which reduced imports of this material.

Indeed, it was the Minister for Transport who said at that time, they werethus putting motorway speed limits back to where they were before the Fuel Crisis".

At the same time I believe that we should appeal to industry and to people in their everyday lives to save as much fuel as possible to ensure that Britain gets over the Present Fuel Crisis.

The Fuel Crisis is especially affecting the aircraft market.

With the Present Fuel Crisis, it is plain that there will have to be a reappraisal of the help given to rural bus services.

In the first 10 months of 1973, before the Fuel Crisis, they went up by a further 18 per cent.

If France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden and other European countries are to go for nuclear power as the only way out of the Fuel Crisis, why must we have this diminished programme?

Owing to delays in the supply of steel, the Fuel Crisis and the three-day working week in the early part of last year, the contract period for the construction of the bridge to carry the M62 over the River Ouse has been extended to April 1976.

In last winter's Fuel Crisis measures were introduced to reduce fuel consumption, and since then we have made every effort to economise in accordance with the general policy of Her Majesty's Government on energy conservation.

Had the motorway box scheme been continued, it would have been proceeding at the time we entered the Fuel Crisis, with a marked diminution in road demand, even in London.

I am aware of the slippage, which was caused partly by the late delivery of steel, partly by the Fuel Crisis and partly by the three-day working week.

Price restraint, the Fuel Crisis, and inflation over the two years 1973 and 1974, brought about a sharp deterioration in the company's financial position.

I understand the difficulty of merely returning to the old system, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that because of the Fuel Crisis and fears about urban pollution, major cities such as Amsterdam, Zurich and Melbourne may have something to teach us about the way in which we disposed of our trams and trolley buses so quickly.

what are the peak flows; what is the projection for the Foyle crossings, namely, Craigavon and Madams Bank bridges, for 1980 and 1985; what is the peak flow with which Craigavon Bridge (both docks) can cope with if there were not any security checks; and whether these projections and flows have been reviewed in the light of the Fuel Crisis.

In the review referred to above the traffic implications of the Fuel Crisis are being taken into account.

I shall put statistics aside, The plain fact is that this road is accident-prone and but for the slight reduction in the volume of traffic on account of the Fuel Crisis, accident figures would have been worse.

Moreover, the calculations on the British figures have now been carried out in respect of 1972, 1973 and 1974 and they give closely corresponding results for the reduction in risk of injuryconferred by belt-wearing, despite the increase in the proportion of belts actually worn and the change in accident patterns due to the Fuel Crisis.

Select Committee's conclusions, but, like the Committee, I feel that due allowance should be made for the Fuel Crisis and economic downturn, which made BA's task far more complicated than anticipated.

compared with the year before the Fuel Crisis, but the achievement of that target has not been at the expense of trainingStandards or operational effectiveness.

If ever a set of Ministers interfered with the day-to-day work of the nationalised industries, particularly the fuel industry at the time of the Fuel Crisis, it was Conservative Ministers.

Now that the Fuel Crisis is over, there could be only one justification for these restrictive laws - that they improve road safety.

Since the Fuel Crisis, we have naturally had to watch fuel consumption in all three Services very carefully.

We shall obviously be faced with a Major Fuel Crisis when North Sea oil runs out.

less energy in 1976–77 than would have been the case had no programme for conservation been undertaken since the Fuel Crisis in late 1973: and that by 1984 this should improve to 30 per cent.

I understood that the original limitation was imposed because of the Fuel Crisis in 1973–74 and that was when the number of training hours was cut to 20.

I was somewhat perturbed to discover that the Motor Conference was taking its stand on what it called the petrol-sharing arrangement, the arrangement that the motor insurers came to in 1973 during the Fuel Crisis when they stated that persons sharing a car who just covered the petrol expenses among themselves would not be regarded as taking part in a hire or reward operation so that a class 1 policy would apply.

That has the ring of Sunny Jim and an election about it, but those were the words of Dr. Dalton, speaking to the Labour Party conference in 1946 - just about six months before the Government closed two-thirds of British industry at two days notice given on a Friday afternoon in the House as Britain entered the 1947 Fuel Crisis.

When there was a Fuel Crisis in the United Kingdom a 50 mph speed limit was introduced.

its exportation had been stopped and limited by the Heath Government during the Fuel Crisis.

Not only was the export of oil under the control ofthe British Government; its exportation had been stopped and limited by the Heath Government during the Fuel Crisis.

The revolution came in that country, and I say to those who were so keen to see the Shah removed that, perhaps, they ought to accept some responsibility for the Fuel Crisis now facing this country and the world as a whole.

To refer to a "Fuel Crisis" would be putting it far too high.

Does he not think, in view of the Fuel Crisis, that the gas industry should be playing a much more significant part in providing alternative sources of energy, particularly for heating?

Mr. Marland asked the Minister of Transport whether in view of the Fuel Crisis he will consider the possibility of lifting the weight restrictions on large lorries from 32 tons gross to 38 tons, as in Europe, in order to conserve fuel.

Following that, we had the Fuel Crisis and the extremely unnerving stories of terrible petrol shortages in the regions.

One of my pensioner groups carried out a survey in the tower blocks as a result of last winter's Fuel Crisis.

Although British Airways are a fine airline of which we can be proud - the largest international airline in the world - although their load factors are very high on any international comparisons, although they are profitable and have made and are making real efforts to improve productivity, and although under the Labour Government they could make purchasing decisions about the new fleet on commercial criteria, what is troubling hon. Members on both sides is whether their productivity record, coupled with the immediate outlook for the aviation industry in the Fuel Crisis, is sufficient to justify confidence that the airline can satisfy both its need for vast capital and the expectations of private shareholders.

Also, the Fuel Crisis has worsened.

That argument is now conceded, because of the continuing Fuel Crisis, the heavy investment programme that has to be undertaken, and so on.

Does the Royal Air Force fly fewer hours now than at the height of the Fuel Crisis?

It was to show that the car was on its way out and the railways were the answer to the Fuel Crisis.

Will the noble Lord tell us what national emergency plans were already in existence to deal with a Fuel Crisis?

Most of my comments result from my experience in the police authority and county council during the Fuel Crisis.

If the Prime Minister believes that the five economic tests are a daily topic of conversation in the drawing rooms of this country and that it is because of an anxiety that they are not met that the British people are opposed to joining the euro, as they clearly are, is he not as out of touch on this issue as he was on the Fuel Crisis?

Will the Minister tell us also why, during the Recent Fuel Crisis, no reference was made at all to the dire environmental consequences of ever-increasing volumes of road traffic?

The noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, made a Statement on the Dome; the noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, made a Statement on the Fuel Crisis; and the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, has kept us regularly informed on international events.

We have been in recess since July, and during that time there has been a Fuel Crisis, a Danish no vote, the collapse of the euro and a war in the middle east, but what is our business tomorrow?

The right hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn) made a fine speech yesterday about re-establishing the primacy of the House, in which particular reference was made to the Fuel Crisis.

It is worth noting that the British public support the environment over tax cuts, even after the Fuel Crisis.

If we are to pursue such a fatuous debating style, I could ask the hon. Gentleman why the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) was on holiday during the Fuel Crisis, when, according to the Evening Standard, he had been given advance notice of the protests.

The real lesson of the Fuel Crisis, in my view, is the need for us to reduce our overdependence on oil and to switch to a greater use of renewable sources of energy.

I have no doubt that, notwithstanding the arguments on either side of the Fuel Crisis, safety was an important feature of that crisis.

If the House is not convinced, we need only look back to what was going on at the time of the Fuel Crisis.

During the Fuel Crisis, I genuinely believed that the protesters had some quite legitimate concerns, particularly those from rural areas who have no adequate public transport and no adequate alternative.

The Government's handling of the Fuel Crisis was lamentable.

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Prime Minister how many letters he received from hon. Members during the summer adjournment calling for a recall of Parliament because of the Fuel Crisis.

The conclusion that we should draw from the Fuel Crisis is that we need to reduce our overdependence on oil and to speed the switch-away to alternative fuels and renewable sources of energy.

Will he confirm exactly what he meant during last week's debate on the Fuel Crisis - that the Deputy Prime Minister could not be bothered to attend - when he said that, far from being abolished, the fuel duty escalator may be brought back by the Government and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in the future?

Again, the Government appear to be in denial both on the Fuel Crisis and on the crisis in the countryside.

Given that the right hon. Gentleman has rightly addressed, perhaps for the first time, genuine concern about the impact of global warming, leading to these particular problems, who does he think the Minister for the Environment had in mind when he said in The Guardian today:It is…remarkable that, during the Recent Fuel Crisis hardly anyone mentioned the environment…?

In respect of the warning that we have now had about global warming, it is essential in the context of the Fuel Crisis that we have an informed public debate in this country.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence of those troops being trained for duties in the event of Another Fuel Crisis, how many have been trained to assist the police in relation to public order offences.

My Lords, does my noble friend recall that one of the issues at the time of the Fuel Crisis was competition from Europe?

Indeed, I suggest this may be in part one of the causes of the Fuel Crisis because a minority of the smaller operators do break the law and thus undercut other small operators.

Nevertheless, is not the real reason for Any Impending Fuel Crisis this arrogant and out-of-touch Government's refusal to cut fuel taxes?

Our bomb disposal experts received 495 call-outs last year, and the armed forces were on standby to ensure that essential services did not break down during the Recent Fuel Crisis.

The petrol industry in Northern Ireland has suffered most from the Fuel Crisis.

It met immediately the Fuel Crisis arose, and put into effect policies to assist wherever possible.

There was a debate on the Fuel Crisis during the first week following the summer recess - the week beginning 23 October.

In September, at the height of the Fuel Crisis, there was a little-reported paper from scientists who had been studying ice samples from the Himalayas, which showed that the past decade was the warmest for 1,000 years.

He ducked our debates on the Fuel Crisis and, on Monday, on the London Underground public-private partnership.

We welcome the under-12 m code, the review of the fitness of vessel requirements and recommendations following the Gorah Lass sinking that work should continue on improving equipment reliability; that the use of fisheries protection vessels to offer advice at sea should be considered; that anxieties about the stability of particular vessels should be considered; that the Minister should speed up the review process; that training should include skippers as well as crew; and that, in the light of the Fuel Crisis, the Minister should consider taking action before the crisis leads to a fatality at sea.

It adds: The failure to recall Parliament during the Fuel Crisis of September 2000 was interpreted by many commentators as evidence of its irrelevance and the extent to which direct action has now superseded parliamentary representation.

I am sorry to take my right hon. Friend back to her earlier remarks, but I note what she said about the failure to recall Parliament during the Fuel Crisis.

If that was the case and they were doing their job, why were the Government surprised and shocked when the Fuel Crisis began?

Indeed, they have fluctuated while the Fuel Crisis has put up costs.

The events surrounding the Fuel Crisis of the past few months are a timely reminder and a warning that we close any sector of our home energy production at our peril.

They get a double gain at our expense: their legislative programme is rammed through because they have run out of time at the end of the parliamentary Session - that is their excuse today - and during the recess they can get on with the job of government without being made accountable for disasters such as the Fuel Crisis.

Some people find it genuinely depressing - I do not know whether they include Labour Members - that, during the Recent Fuel Crisis, when farmers and others were demonstrating, at least two Labour Members said, "I don't particularly mind.

Does she recall that, during the summer, the Prime Minister intervened to try to sort out the Fuel Crisis, and that after a summit at Downing street he announced that fuel would be returned to the petrol pumps within 24 hours?

That was just as much the case during the Fuel Crisis, when our poll ratings dipped alarmingly for us and our constituents, as it was in less troubled times One of the reasons for that is that for decades the Conservatives have taken for granted - the speech of the hon. Member for Ashford reflected this - the support of rural communities, which they neglected and ultimately betrayed.

That fantastic achievement was achieved in part by the International Civil Aviation Organisation regulations on noise, and the Fuel Crisis of the 1970s may have helped; but it is also 194WH the result of the industry's determination to operate more fuel-efficient aeroplanes.

That fantastic achievement was achieved in part by the International Civil Aviation Organisation regulations on noise, and the Fuel Crisis of the 1970s may have helped; but it is also the result of the industry's determination to operate more fuel-efficient aeroplanes.

I put forward tonight's Unstarred Question for debate at the time of the Fuel Crisis last year.

The Fuel Crisis last autumn took us all by surprise: first, because we have got out of the habit of having our lives disrupted by that kind of industrial reaction; and, secondly, because the resultant fuel shortages showed us how we have become so dependent on readily available supplies of petrol and diesel.

Ministers have made a series of very unwise statements that are reminiscent of the Prime Minister's statement during the Fuel Crisis.

The Fuel Crisis of last summer represented an explosion of people's anger that should act as a warning to the Chancellor.

Given last year's Fuel Crisis, foot and mouth could not have come at a worse time for British tourism.

A more recent and poignant example was that of a request from 2nd PUS" - permanent under-secretary - for us to supply police officers on a mutual aid basis during the Fuel Crisis.

However, clearly something is wrong if, when the second permanent under-secretary asks the Ministry of Defence Police to escort oil tankers during the Fuel Crisis, he is told that the force does not have the power to do so.

Let us consider for a moment what happened with the Fuel Crisis.

In addition, the Fuel Crisis and flooding problems had already made this a very difficult year for the industry.

Apparently, as a result of the way they handled the Fuel Crisis last year and the foot and mouth crisis this year, there are to be changes in the way COBRA - the Cabinet Committee that deals with crises - is run.

If last year's Fuel Crisis taught us anything, it is that it does not take much to prevent distribution from those refineries, thus causing a national fuel shortage.

Does she know that the figures show the biggest drop in confidence since last year's Fuel Crisis?

First we had the Fuel Crisis, then the floods, which affected large parts of England and Wales.

We have had, as I said, a Fuel Crisis.

In the light of other events that have occurred, such as the flooding in 2000, the Fuel Crisis and foot and mouth, the legislation is overdue for amendment, especially because of the Merseyside decision.

Members have mentioned the Fuel Crisis, and there was the millennium bug.

Given the different crises in the past few years - whether it be the Fuel Crisis, foot and mouth, terrorist threats or flooding - such a Bill is clearly a top priority.

During the Fuel Crisis, travellers searched desperately to find a pump open in the Yorkshire dales.

As we noted in our report, no reserves were deployed in the Fuel Crisis in 2000, and only about 10 per cent.

It was decided to maintain the grant at around the 2001–02 national level to reflect factors such as the Fuel Crisis, foot and mouth outbreak and flooding.

; starvation is rife; and the situation is exacerbated by a Fuel Crisis that 180WH is bringing the country to a halt, with the latest negotiations between it and its fuel supplier, Libya, apparently running into problems.

; starvation is rife; and the situation is exacerbated by a Fuel Crisis that is bringing the country to a halt, with the latest negotiations between it and its fuel supplier, Libya, apparently running into problems.

The nature and severity of the intervention will vary, and need to reflect several factors such as the amount by which the standard is missed, the steps a local authority had taken to achieve the standard, external factors such as problems with a market for a particular material, or unusual occurrences such as the Recent Fuel Crisis and the likelihood of the local authority meeting the standard in the immediate future.

In the section of the DTI departmental report for 2003 entitled, encouragingly, "Security of Supply", we read: "Emergency arrangements for the energy sector continue to be reviewed and updated in the light of lessons learnt from the Fuel Crisis of 2000 and the events of11 September 2001".

These concerns were still evident in the inquiries into the Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail crashes, the Fuel Crisis and foot and mouth, which have also shown where frameworks for handling challenges could be improved.

Even now, the events of11 September 2001 are still fresh in many people's minds, but so are the Fuel Crisis, foot and mouth and the floods of 2000.

It is however noteworthy that the revised communication and liaison methods introduced following the Fuel Crisis have never been tested by exercises and only very recently has Defra engaged with local government in discussion of revised arrangements for handling a recurrence of foot and mouth.

Flooding, the Fuel Crisis in 2000 and the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001 exposed weaknesses in our system.

Under Labour, our armed forces have seen an unprecedented tempo of action not only in combat in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq, but in filling vital gaps in the public services at home during the Fuel Crisis, foot and mouth disease and the firemen's strike.

Arrangements were exposed by the major flooding of 2000, by the Fuel Crisis and by the foot and mouth epidemic.

Where things fall down is when the scale or impact of the emergency require the involvement of central government resources, prime recent examples being the Fuel Crisis and the outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

I additionally would have thought, given the events of the September 2000 Fuel Crisis and the near standstill that that incident brought to the country, the Government would have been keen to include in the Bill the producers and distributors of fuel.

Recent examples where central emergency planning was lacking include the Fuel Crisis and the foot and mouth outbreak.

In the time since the Fuel Crisis, the foot and mouth outbreak, flooding and so on, we have demonstrated a very clear commitment to the resilience agenda.

I ask the Minister to take account of the Current Fuel Crisis, which is affecting the industry.

The Fuel Crisis is in danger of overarching all the issues that I have mentioned.

That is to say nothing about the emergencies at home - the Fuel Crisis, the foot and mouth outbreak, firefighting and the July terrorist attacks.

I include the Falklands campaign in 1982, the Gulf in 1991, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Macedonia, Iraq and now Afghanistan, to say nothing of the emergencies at home, including the Fuel Crisis, the foot and mouth emergency, firefighting and the terrorist attacks of July 2005.

At the same time, our Armed Forces have had to step in repeatedly - in the Fuel Crisis, in the foot and mouth outbreak and in firefighting - to bale out poor domestic planning.

More broadly on quotas, he will be aware that as a result of the climate conditions in the North sea and of boats not leaving the harbour because of the Fuel Crisis, the east coast nephrops fishery in the Farne deeps is down 50 per cent.

I think a few Members are in their places who will remember the 1970s, when a limit of 50 mph was imposed because of the so-called Fuel Crisis.

While I was sitting here and hearing about the Fuel Crisis of the 1970s, when Ted Heath was Prime Minister, I was reminded of the fact that the Department of Energy was created at that time to solve the crisis of the shortage of fuel and deal with the issue of coal.

add pressure to the Government to act", and act quickly, on what it calls a "Fuel Crisis".

It does not take a very good mathematician to work out that were we not paying that debt, we would not need the level of fuel duty or VAT that we do-with all that that has meant for the Current Fuel Crisis.

The escalator was introduced by the previous Tory Government, and during the Labour Government, particularly after the Fuel Crisis at the turn of the century, it was dropped.

Recently, the Prime Minister conceded that the Government had made an “important mistake” in the handling of the Fuel Crisis.