Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)(10 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Mr Davey
We will not have access to all the information, because the site is the property of a private company, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman would recognise, but we have made it very clear to INEOS, and indeed to the joint owners of the refinery, that we stand ready to assist. I do not think that I can take up his proposal, but he should not take that as an indication of any lack of resolve on the part of Government to do everything possible.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
I understand that INEOS believes the plant to be loss-making. What assessment has the Secretary of State or his counterpart in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills made of the source of those losses? Given that the plant is so important in producing a third of Britain’s ethylene product, what assessment has been made of the knock-on effect on all the other companies that depend on that product throughout the United Kingdom economy?
Mr Davey
On my hon. Friend’s latter point, we have already made that assessment, as I have said, and at the moment we are convinced that the chemical supplies required can be supplied from other sources. With regard to why the petrochemicals plant is making a loss, I can only tell him what INEOS has said publicly: that the cost of pensions and salaries make the plant unprofitable. However, as I have said throughout my answers, the Government will remain balanced and even-handed on this issue, so we are not going to say that one party is right and the other is wrong, because we want both sides around the table.