CLOSURE OF STC SUBMARINE CABLE FACTORY, SOUTHAMPTON

That this House notes with dismay the proposed closure of the STC Submarine Systems factory in Southampton from July 1996; notes that at the time of the sale of STC Submarine Systems to Alcatel in 1993, STC Submarine's UK operations held 30 per cent. of the world market for long-haul deep-water undersea telecommunications systems and that the company pioneered many of the present technologies in use; recognises that the closure would render meaningless assurances which were given by Alcatel to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and accepted by the Government in 1993; believes that a down-turn in cable markets has been used as justification for removing a successful UK manufacturing facilitity from the world market to the benefit of Alcatel's French operations; and calls on the Government to put every available pressure on Alcatel to withdraw its decision to close this plant.