§ 2. Mr. Ralph Morleyasked the Minister of Fuel and Power if he will consider taking steps to institute a uniform retail price for coal throughout the country.
§ The Minister of Fuel and Power (Mr. Philip Noel-Baker)I regret that, for reasons which I have previously explained, it is not practicable to do what my hon. Friend suggests, and that to attempt to do so would probably cause more hardships and anomalies than it would relieve.
§ Mr. MorleyIs my right hon. Friend aware that a ton of coal in Southampton costs from £1 to 30s. more than it does in the Midlands and in the North of England? Is that justifiable under a system of national ownership? Can he even things out a bit more?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerI have considered this very carefully, but it so happens that most 1638 of the coalfields are in parts of the country where the climate is very hard and people need more coal for domestic consumption. If the prices were uniform the cost to those people would have to rise steeply and would create considerable hardship.