Hull Telephone Department

HC Deb 23 January 1978 vol 942 cc953-4

9. Mr. Neubert

asked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he plans to nationalise the Hull Telephone Department.

Mr. Kaufman

My right hon. Friend has given his consent to an interim extension, to 30th June 1978, of the licence from the Post Office under which Kingston upon Hull City Council operates its own local telephone service, and is considering carefully the issue of a new long-term licence.

Mr. Neubert

Is it not highly desirable that the Hull telephone service, which is cheap and profitable and which has achieved a percentage of home installations nearly twice as great as the GPO, should remain independent to provide [...] comparison and a stimulus to innovation to the Post Office's statutory monopoly?

Mr. Kaufman

Clearly the hon. Gentleman has come a long way since he voted against the Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, East (Mr. Clemitson) which sought to extend the powers of local authorities in relation to commercial trading activities. I welcome the hon. Gentleman's conversion to municipal socialism.