§ 15. Mr. Canavanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will meet the chairman of the South of Scotland Electricity Board to discuss the future plans of the board for electricity generation and supply.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherMy right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to do so. My officials meet the board's senior officials regularly to discuss its plans.
§ Mr. CanavanHow can the electricity board use a so-called increase in demand to justify building Torness while coal-fired power stations such as that at Kincardine are under-used, and at the same time claim that there is a decrease in demand and use that as an excuse for reducing the number of electrical power engineers by 17½ per cent.? What kind of crazy double talk is that from a public body?
§ Mr. FletcherThe position with Torness is simply that its capacity will be required in the 1990s, not only to meet the level of demand then, but because it is wasteful to burn oil and coal is expensive to burn. Nuclear power must be the fuel of the future.