HC Deb 22 January 1964 vol 687 cc1072-3
24. Mr. Malcolm MacMillan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he intends to authorise sufficient expenditure by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board to enable it to provide supply in North Uist and Barra, and to complete its proposed five to six years' programme, as recommended in the Mackenzie Report.

Mr. G. Campbell

My right hon. Friend has authorised the Board to increase its expenditure for this purpose during the next two years; but it is for the Board to decide the order in which the areas covered by its programme should be tackled. Expenditure to be authorised in later years will be settled at the appropriate time.

Mr. Malcolm MacMillan

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Hydro-Electric Board is most anxious to complete the 5 to 6-year programme recommended by the Mackenzie Committee and that it is complaining bitterly that, after repeated appeals to the Secretary of State, he has not authorised it to spend its money in such a way as to bring electricity to the outlying islands of North Uist and Barra for at least three or four years yet to come? At a time when the Government are supposed to be developing the Highlands, modernising Britain and developing the tourist industry, how can they justify leaving these islands in darkness for the next four years?

Mr. Campbell

I hoped that the hon. Gentleman would be pleased at the information about the increase. This additional expenditure is intended as an interim measure to enable the rate of rural distribution to be speeded up immediately. I am well aware of the recommendation in paragraph 172 of the Mackenzie Report that the programme should be completed in five or six years, but this is for the immediate next two years.

Mr. Malcolm MacMillan

Is the Under-Secretary aware that it is quite impossible, according to the Hydro-Electric Board, for it to commit itself to the completion of this programme or to do it systematically within the timetable recommended, as the Government have repeatedly refused to authorise the expenditure of an adequate amount of money? Does not this occur to the hon. Gentleman?

Mr. Campbell

I note what the hon. Gentleman says, but it is up to the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board itself to decide which areas it will tackle first.