§ 19. Mr. Emrys Hughesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the amount of money paid to Messrs. Ferranti for the Bloodhound missile, what further steps he will take to scrutinise and supervise such expenditure in future.
§ Mr. GreenI would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave to the hon. Member for Wednesbury (Mr. Stonehouse) on 11th February.
§ Mr. HughesCan the hon. Gentleman tell us where were the watchdogs of the Treasury when this bloodsucker operation was going on? Does not this show that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Treasury, or whoever looks after our finances, has allowed a grave scandal to develop? What is going to be done about it?
§ Mr. GreenThe answer to the substantive question that the hon. Member has put is that the Treasury does not seek—and I believe it would be very bad organisation if it did seek—to handle in detail contracts that are in fact the responsibility of another Department.
§ Mr. F. HarrisDoes my hon. Friend think that hon. Members opposite fully realise that at least 53 per cent. of this money, and possibly up to 78¼ per cent., automatically comes back to the Government by way of taxation?