HC Deb 24 November 1952 vol 508 cc4-5
3. Mr. Palmer

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the total of the extra financial charges imposed, since October, 1951, on the British Electricity Authority and the area electricity boards by the higher rates of interest chargeable on electricity loans.

Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd

Total interest payments in the year ending 30th September, 1952, were £22 million compared with £18 million for the previous 12 months. The increase was due mainly to additional capital raised by the industry, but partly to changes in interest rates. Any allocation between these two factors could only be hypothetical.

Mr. Palmer

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that these extra charges are yet another millstone, to coin a phrase, about the neck of an industry which is vital to our productive effort?

Mr. Lloyd

I do not think that either the phrase or the idea is highly original.

Mr. Nabarro

Is it not desirable that the British Electricity Authority should submit to the financial discipline of the money market in the same way as any other industrial undertaking does?