§ 22. Mr. Ernest Daviesasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will make available to hon. Members by publication in the OFFICIAL REPORT the letter dated 22nd October which he sent to the British Transport Commission concerning advances to be made to it under the Transport (Railway Finances) Act, 1957, together with the reply he received thereto.
§ Mr. WatkinsonYes, Sir.
§ Mr. DaviesIn thanking the Minister for publishing this letter, the existence of which we discovered only when he made his recent speech at Sevenoaks, may I ask whether he chose that particular occasion on which to refer to the fact that he had informed the Transport Commission that if it got into further financial difficulties, no further advances would be made to it than were provided under the Transport (Railway Finances) Act? Was it merely a coincidence that the Minister made his speech on the very day that the award for the London busmen was announced and on the eve of the hearing by the tribunal of the claim of the railwaymen? Was not this rather an interference with collective bargaining?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe fact is that the letter was mentioned to the House by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the economic debate on 29th October, only a week after it was written. There was, therefore, no improper concealment. On the more general situation, the House must understand that we have committed ourselves, by a decision of the House, to finance the Transport Commission to the extent of £250 million to cover its future deficits. In my view, that is as far as we should go in the public interest and that is what I said in my speech.
Following are the letters:
Letter from the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation to the Deputy Chairman of the British Transport Commission22nd October, 1957I wrote to your Chairman on 19th September about some of the measures the Government had decided must be taken to curb inflation and support the value of the pound sterling. In that letter I explained that the aim for the public sector was to keep the level of investment expenditure over the next two years 426 within the level attained this year and I gave the amounts within which the Commission would he expected to keep their actual expenditure on investment in 1958 and 1959.The same considerations must apply to the advances made to the Commission under the provisions of the Transport (Railway Finances) Act. 1957, to meet deficits on revenue account of British Railways. I am therefore letting you know in good time that it has been decided that for 1958 and 1959 no advance will be made to the Commission above the level contemplated in the White Paper. For 1958, therefore, the amount will not be in excess of the actual ascertained deficit for 1957 as certified by the Auditors in due course. For 1959 the advance will be reduced in accordance with the forecast on which the White Paper is based. I thought that the Commission would wish to know exactly how they stand over the next two years, in the light of the Government's present financial policy, under the provisions of the Act.(Signed) HAROLD WATKINSON.Letter from the Deputy Chairman of the British Transport Commission to the Minister of Transport and Civil AviationI have received your letter of 22nd October in regard to the advances made to the Commission under the provisions of the Transport (Railway Finances) Act, 1957. and have conveyed the contents to the Commission.(Signed) J. BENSTEAD.