Plenary, 14 Sep 2000

Meeting date: Thursday, September 14, 2000

Official Report 781KB pdf

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Fuel Situation

The next item of business is a statement by the First Minister on the developing fuel situation.

I thought that it was right for me to keep colleagues up to date on the latest situation. I am grateful to the Presiding Officer for making that possible and for accommodating what will be a brief statement. I apologise to the leaders of the other two main parties, who would normally receive a copy of the statement in advance. As they will appreciate, circumstances have been difficult and I was anxious that our news should be as up to date as possible.

I am very pleased—relieved might be the word—to report that the protesters have now left Grangemouth refinery and that common sense has prevailed. This morning the activities at Inverness also ceased, which is important.

However, I must emphasise the seriousness of the situation and the difficulties that remain. We were taken to the edge and even now there is likely to be a great deal of inconvenience, dislocation and financial loss, which I regret. Efforts are being made to get supplies back to normal as quickly as possible. I understand that extra tankers and drivers have been rostered at the Grangemouth refinery and that tanker loads are leaving the refinery every few minutes. However, it will take some time to make up lost ground. The assessment that we have been given is that it may be early next week before supplies are restored in all parts of the country.

The deliveries that are being made are going to priority users, including emergency and essential services and utilities and transport services, as well as to the 350 designated filling stations across Scotland. This afternoon we shall issue guidance to all concerned, to ensure that the fuel available at those filling stations goes to priority users. Priority users include people involved in milk transportation, a group to which one of my Conservative colleagues referred.

The success of this operation depends on good will and tolerance. I hope very much that that will be forthcoming, as I am sure that people understand the reason for the measures that we are taking. I appeal to the public to refrain from unnecessary purchases of fuel and other goods, such as foodstuffs. Panic buying is a very human activity, but it is unhelpful and deepens the atmosphere of crisis. It will only prolong the problems that the protesters have caused. Great efforts have been made by the Executive to ensure good order and to help with particular difficulties in industry.

I know that there will continue to be some difficulties until early next week as a result of the activity at Grangemouth. I thank the general public for their forbearance thus far and ask them to help to ensure that those who need supplies of fuel most urgently are allowed priority on the forecourts.

It has been an enormously difficult time and there are doubtless lessons to be learned. Demonstrations have taken place all over Europe—in France, Germany, Belgium and Spain—but the extent of the problem does not diminish the very real difficulties that we still face.

I thank the minister for his statement, a copy of which I managed to obtain a minute or two ago.

First, does the First Minister have enough information to tell the Parliament that the 48-hour crisis, of which he spoke yesterday and which could potentially affect industry and the health service, can now be averted?

Secondly, the First Minister said that this afternoon new instructions would be issued for ensuring emergency supplies of fuel for categories of industry, social work and the emergency services. Is he concerned that the system is not working smoothly at the moment?

Thirdly, to avert the panic buying of which he spoke, can the First Minister give an indication of the time scale within which it is expected that petrol will be generally available at the stations?

Lastly, the First Minister spoke of lessons that should be learned from this dispute. Can he give us an indication of what lessons the Government might be learning?

I will take the constructive points that Mr Salmond made at the beginning. I say to him that I did not use the word "instructions"; I used the term "guidance". We are not trying to instruct, because we do not have powers to do so. We are writing today to a number of key bodies to ask them to distribute guidance about what is happening on the forecourt and how priority users can get some measure of priority. I cannot say at this stage how successful that will be. It would be wrong of me to be tempted to prophesy precise time scales.

I have to tell colleagues that I understand that there have been suggestions of some trouble on the forecourt in certain areas, but I think that that is very limited. On the whole, tempers are good. I hope that the relief, which I think is widely felt, that we have not been plunged over the edge into the kind of crisis that seemed imminent will stand us in good stead in seeing through the next few days.

As for the 48-hour crisis in the health service and other areas, it is again difficult for me to make predictions, but I hope and expect that the situation will get better over the next three or four days as we move back towards normalcy. Certainly, I hope that acute crisis and difficulty in, for example, the health service can now be avoided, but I do not want anyone to take that as a guarantee that there will be no difficulties in any part of the service—that would be an extremely silly guarantee to give, as it may well not hold. I assure the chamber that we will do everything possible to minimise any disruption, difficulty, inconvenience and hazard to patients.

On the general point at the end of Mr Salmond's question, I think that there is a very difficult problem. I referred to the fact that there had been a sweep of demonstrations across Europe. Some people might even describe what has happened as a copycat phenomenon that started with the French. I do not necessarily endorse that definition, but it is clear that there has been a widespread reaction. I endorse what has been said about the need to examine it carefully.

I do not make an easy point but, although Mr Salmond went much further than Mr Swinney on the SNP position, he was still talking about a reduction in duty of just over 2p. If members believe that the difficulties are as ingrained as some commentators and some of our political opponents have suggested, it would be an interesting debate as to whether such a reduction would be likely to change circumstances.

Governments must act responsibly. The Executive does not have responsibility for this area of policy, but any Government must act responsibly and make the proper economic calculations, consider carefully the balance of fiscal policy and do what it thinks right in the interests of the country.

I am sure that all members of the Parliament and the public appreciate the fact that we have now had statements from the First Minister on two successive days on the fuel crisis and that we had a full-scale debate in the Parliament yesterday. In the light of that, does the First Minister think that the Prime Minister should follow his example? Will he advise him to agree to a recall of Parliament, as Mr Hague and I believe some Liberals have requested, so that there can be a full-scale debate at Westminster on the crisis and its consequences? After all, the root of the crisis is a matter that is reserved to the Westminster Parliament, as I am sure the First Minister will acknowledge, and some of its consequences have UK dimensions and not simply devolved ones.

Secondly, I think that the First Minister might agree with me that it is necessary in these situations to act responsibly and use temperate language. Could I ask him to reconsider his use of the words "blockade at Grangemouth" in the statement that he has just made to Parliament?

He did not say it.

I am afraid that it is down here in black and white. The First Minister may have had second thoughts about it; if so, second thoughts are indeed desirable. To describe a perfectly lawful and peaceful protest as a blockade is not helpful; indeed, it is no more helpful than the intemperate use of words by his deputy, who yesterday described what was happening as "mob rule".

I think that we are seeing a statesman being born. If there is anyone in the chamber who is noted—and at times it is an endearing characteristic—for his use of intemperate language, it is David McLetchie.

I have been extremely concerned about the situation over the past 48 hours. I made the point forcefully yesterday that there was no physical blocking of the exits and entrances at the refinery, which—I have to be honest—made it doubly frustrating that there was no movement. One can argue—although I do not want to debate the question here—why there was no movement, whose fault it was and the extent to which intimidation or other causes may have been at the heart of what happened.

In passing, I would like to thank the officials of the Transport and General Workers Union, who spent a large part of last night in the plant trying to facilitate a return to normalcy.

On the other point that the honourable gentleman—[Interruption.] I am sorry; I should say Mr McLetchie. That was merely an attempt to recover proper etiquette, and not a moral judgment.

I hope that we are not entering a long discussion on whether Westminster should be recalled, as that has nothing to do with us.

Briefly, I will say that there is a difference, in that Westminster is in recess and we are not. Whether we would have summoned back this Parliament if it were in recess is an interesting hypothetical argument. The recall of Westminster is not our business, but a matter for the Prime Minister and no doubt for the representations that Mr Hague is very publicly making.

I thank the First Minister for his statement. I am sure that everyone in the chamber is very relieved by what he said. Does he agree that, no matter how this situation arose, it has shown clearly that we cannot afford to be wholly dependent on a finite fossil fuel that is controlled by a few multinationals? What steps can be taken to provide access to, and promote the use of, alternative forms of fuel for the future?

There are many possibilities flowing from recent circumstances that will have to be examined with great care. The Executive certainly wishes to encourage alternative and sustainable fuel resources—I know that Sarah Boyack and her colleagues are working very hard to do that. The percentage of our total energy supply that comes from such resources, including the contribution from hydroelectricity, is comparatively limited. It will certainly be a long time before such resources significantly affect our dependency on oil.

I remind members that, as this is an emergency statement, questions should be confined to the issues that are raised by the First Minister and should not raise wider matters.

The First Minister will have noticed that the Westminster Parliament is on holiday, despite the fact that that Parliament has control over fuel duty. The Scottish Parliament is working and Scotland produces the oil, but we have no control over fuel duty. Will the First Minister demand of the Prime Minister that the setting of the rates for fuel duty should be removed to this working Parliament from a bunch of holidaymakers in London?

No. That question simply illustrates the fundamental differences between Dorothy-Grace Elder and me.

What detailed priorities for distribution have been agreed with the oil companies? Is the First Minister satisfied that the terms of the agreement will be kept?

There is an understanding that the first petrol stations to be supplied will be the designated filling stations, of which there are about 350 in Scotland, with a very wide geographical spread. As I explained in my statement, we are writing to operators and to a number of key bodies to explain our anxiety to ensure that essential users will not be prejudiced but will be given a certain priority in those petrol stations. A pretty comprehensive list, which is the result of activity in the Department of Trade and Industry over the past day or two, forms the basis of our advice and guidance.

I should say to Lord James that there are many splendid independents in Scotland and I cannot predict whether everyone will agree with the priority list and operate it fully. I am sure that the majority will. I hope that we will not get impersonation—people who claim to be what they are not—or anger on the forecourt, which can clearly lead to difficulties and unpleasantness.

I was grateful that the First Minister mentioned guidelines and guidance in his preliminary statement and in his response to Alex Salmond's question. However, it is all very well saying that the fuel will go to priority users and that success depends on good will and tolerance, but success also depends on clear and precise guidelines. A colleague has advised me of an incident last night in the west of Scotland in which a manageress, whose petrol station was queued out, with three police officers controlling the traffic jam, phoned BP for guidance and was told to take the police's advice. When she spoke to the police, she was told that they were there to assist the manageress in enforcing her decisions, not to make the decisions. What are the guidelines? Who are the priority and essential users? I ask the First Minister to spell out those points so that others—not just that manageress—will not be left having to make decisions that might present difficulties and have consequences for which they cannot be expected to take responsibility.

We are dealing with a situation that I hope is improving, and an improving situation makes such problems much more manageable. Kenny MacAskill shakes his head. I hope that he is not suggesting that the situation is not going to improve or—worse—regretting that it is an improving situation.

A guidance on priority purposes that is being sent out with the other guidance mentions 29 categories of priority worker, including a number about which I was asked yesterday. That guidance will be in the hands of the people who have to take such decisions. The important thing is that the understanding and tolerance of the general public will improve the situation.

I hope that there will also be restraint and that people will not fill up if it is not necessary. At the moment, when people see that petrol is available, they rush in and fill up. If they can last for three or four days without doing so, they will know that, by that stage, the supply will be more adequate and available. Good sense and temperate behaviour on both sides will see us through, and I hope that we will get it.

I appreciate the First Minister's attempts to reassure the Parliament and Scotland about the next three or four days. However, the boil has simply been lanced; the sepsis is still there and will not go away.

I am concerned by the second last sentence of the First Minister's statement, which says:

"It has been an enormously difficult time and there are doubtless lessons to be learned."

I am given to understand that we are currently in a period of tacit peace. Apparently, the protesters have indicated their intention to resume difficult circumstances in 60 days' time. Has the First Minister any comment on that in the light of the phrase "lessons to be learned"?

Of course, I have heard press reports and seen television reports about the remarks to which Annabel Goldie refers. As she knows—and as I think that her party will agree—I believe that Governments must take honest decisions, balancing the fiscal necessities and possibilities with social justice. I count on the Government of the day—which I happen to support, although I hope that any Government would do the same—to take exactly such decisions. The Government cannot be stampeded into instant decisions. That would be unfortunate and, when people had had time to think about the matter, would greatly diminish confidence in the stability and good sense of our parliamentary system.

I have no doubt that the Government will listen and consider, as it did when it abandoned the fuel duty escalator last year; when it took a very large sum out of vehicle excise duties for haulage lorries; and when it announced a major programme of road improvements running to hundreds of millions of pounds. That record is very much more substantial than perhaps people on the demonstration lines have recognised.

As I am sure Annabel Goldie appreciates, this is about not only petroleum tax revenue, but vehicle excise duty, the impact of road tolling, which is common in continental countries, and so on. The issue becomes much more complex. Of course Gordon Brown and his colleagues will have to examine it carefully, but they must come to wise decisions based on the balance of interest.

What has been telling about the past few days is the speed with which the situation for people, services and businesses moved from inconvenience to the prospect of real harm. What plans does the Executive have to examine the events of the past few days with a view to putting in place contingency and emergency plans for possible future occurrences?

That is a fair point. Last night, members of my private office, senior civil servants and people from the departments that deal with energy and attendant matters were in the office very late trying to ensure that we had in place emergency provisions and emergency lines that could pick up pinch points and deal with particular points of pressure. That is sensible, but we should review whether our machinery in that respect is as adequate as it can be and determine whether it can be strengthened and improved.

When the economic life-blood of the country is being cut off, panic sets in and people become fearful for the future. In such a situation, the best system in the world for alerting authorities and taking immediate remedial action will become inadequate. That is why, above all, we want to avoid the situation happening again.

Will the First Minister assure the chamber that bus companies, particularly those that serve outlying villages and rural areas, will be given priority in the distribution of fuel?

Bus companies have been one of the particular areas—I was going to say targets, but that is an unfortunate word—that have been prioritised. That is the case not only in rural areas but in Glasgow and Edinburgh. As members know, night services were being cancelled this week and great efforts were being made to deal with that. Those are priorities. We are trying hard to deal with some of the industrial problems that Henry McLeish's department is aware of outwith the priority purposes guidance that we have issued. We are trying in every field to be helpful in this, but the most helpful thing of all is to keep tankers coming out of Grangemouth, one every three or four minutes. We need that to happen solidly over the next few days.

I note that, in the wake of the recent fuel shortages, several of the oil retailers have announced price increases. Does the First Minister intend to raise that issue in his discussions with the Prime Minister to ensure that the UK Government places the pricing strategies of the oil companies and the retailers under appropriate scrutiny to ensure that excessive profiteering does not take place?

I have an enormous amount of sympathy with the point that Bristow Muldoon has made. I was astonished to learn that Esso had put 2p on the price at the pumps today. It seemed to me to be a counterproductive act. As far as I know—and I say this with a little care—all the signs are that the oil price is shading. That makes the price increase even more difficult to explain. I suspect that there will be a great deal of concern over the issue. Many people will want to be sure that it is not a matter of trying to recoup the costs that have resulted from the activity over the past few days.

I have been passed a note that may help. Lothian Buses will be virtually back to normal on Friday; FirstBus has no problems and no restrictions; Stagecoach western expects to return to full service tomorrow; and Rapson's Coaches hopes to run its services in the north of Scotland unaffected. The situation is improving. The big cities were where the first difficulties arose.

Does the First Minister agree that the overwhelming majority of people who have participated in or supported the protests have done so in a peaceful and orderly way? Does he agree that for anyone—including the Deputy First Minister—to characterise their behaviour as "mob rule" is purely inflammatory?

Does the First Minister agree with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who believes that the rate of fuel duty needs to be increased? The chancellor and the Labour party are committed to increase duty by at least the rate of inflation in the forthcoming budget.

Order. I said earlier that this was an emergency statement and that questions should relate to it. However, Mr Dewar may want to comment on aspects of Mr Ewing's questions.

I think that we will have to analyse exactly what happened. Over the past two or three days, I have met an enormous number of people representing a number of interests in the dispute. I agree—I made this point yesterday—that there were no obvious signs of intimidation at Grangemouth at the time—no signs at all, in fact. However, if Fergus Ewing were to talk to the drivers, they would tell him that intimidation or the fear of intimidation, of which they say there was real evidence outside the immediate vicinity of Grangemouth, was one of the main reasons why it was so difficult to get the tankers moving. I do not pass judgment on that, but it is perhaps a warning against an over-simplistic approach.

Will the First Minister recommend that, in order to conserve the scarce resources that are available, a 50 mph speed limit be imposed—as happened in 1975—until such time as this emergency is completely over?

Again, that was wide of the statement.

The answer is no. I do not have the power to do that and I would not exercise that power if I had—but I am sure that Robin Harper will set a good example.

Given the vital importance of the car in rural Scotland, will the First Minister assure the chamber that petrol stations there will be given equitable status when it comes to replenishing fuel stocks and that they will not be left to the end of the queue?

I am sure that we will be trying to make an equitable distribution right across Scotland. I think—although I will have to check this—that we have a higher percentage of designated filling stations in rural areas; that relates to the vast percentage of the landmass in rural Scotland as against its share of the population. There are, as there should be, designated petrol filling stations in the Borders, in the Highlands, on the west coast and in other areas where it is not easy for people to get to a petrol filling station—certainly if the one that they usually uses is not designated. That weighting is built into the system. I hope that this is a temporary, passing matter, which will last over the next two or three days only. We are doing our best.

I spent most of last night at BP Grangemouth. Staff there can tell us that the tankers did not leave the refinery because of intimidation of the drivers. Car numbers have been noted and pictures have been taken, not only going through Grangemouth, but at the pumps—

We must have a question.

Will the First Minister agree that, as BP has said, the reason why the petrol has not left the refinery is intimidation of drivers?

I am not anxious to be hard and fast on this matter, but I offered Fergus Ewing the fact that that was given to me as an explanation. The remarks of Cathy Peattie, who, as the constituency MSP, has great local knowledge, give us cause for thought. In fact, the explanation may be something that has been suggested to me on a number of occasions: that the intimidation was not at the Grangemouth refinery but at the other end of the journey, at the forecourts, or on the journey. I was not there to see that, but I can only report that that was repeatedly said to me and to others.

Many island communities on the west coast of Scotland rely on Caledonian MacBrayne for ferry services. When I spoke to CalMac yesterday morning, I was told that the company was down to just a number of days' fuel. Can the First Minister assure me that its services will be among the priority services to receive a top-up in fuel supplies as soon as possible?

I can assure George Lyon that CalMac ferries will continue to sail. My understanding is that CalMac is reasonably satisfied with its present situation. If crisis point were reached, however, we would obviously try to do something to alleviate the position.

We must close this discussion now and move on to question time.