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Silvertown

Volume 949: debated on Tuesday 9 May 1978

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Q2.

asked the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Silvertown.

As my hon. Friend knows, I visited Silvertown last year, but I have at present no plans for a further visit.

Does my right hon. Friend recall that Silvertown is in the middle of the Royal Docks, which, together with the West India Dock, the Port of London Authority now wishes to close? Is he aware that their closure would have a colossal impact on life and work in East London?

Notwithstanding the views of the PLA, can my right hon. Friend give an assurance to East Londoners that as part of the Government's inner urban policy, which is supported by the Opposition, they will examine every possible means of seeing how far these facilities can be maintained and used usefully so that they have a positive influence on the whole of the port and the whole of East London? Does he agree that any commercial criterion is doomed to failure because Continental ports receive support from their States and towns, which Londoners have never had?

I agree that the closure would have a serious effect. Docks have been closed in the past and, no doubt, will be closed in the future. But we must not underrate the effect of closures of this kind upon the life of the community.

I certainly undertake that the Secretary of State for Transport will examine every possible means of using these facilities for their present purpose or, alternatively, of finding new uses for them. Commercial criteria must be the test against which facilities of this type are used. There will be no long-term future for this country if we continue permanently to subsidise facilities for which there are no uses. First, the chairman of the PLA must satisfy my hon. Friend and the Secretary of State for Transport about the prospects for these docks.

If the Prime Minister is unable to visit Silvertown, is there any prospect of his visiting a tin village in my constituency?

Will the Prime Minister change his mind and go to Silvertown? Will he explain to the people of Silver-town how he feels about being Prime Minister of a Government who cannot command a majority in the House even for fixing the standard rate of tax? Is it not time that he decided whether he likes office too much to have the decency to confess that he is no longer in power?

I should be happy to go to Silvertown. If the hon. Member went there with me, he would find that I received a better reception than he. I agree that the present situation is not satisfactory. That is why, whenever the call comes, I shall go for a clear majority for a Labour Government whenever I think it appropriate.