HC Deb 27 October 1986 vol 103 c25 3.45 pm
Mr. Jonathan Aitken (Thanet, South)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the intervention by Ministers in the financing of the Channel tunnel project. Since the House rose on Friday afternoon it has become widely known that the Eurotunnel consortium is in a state of shambles, having failed yet again to meet its twice-postponed deadline for raising the first £206 million of equity for the £5 billion Channel tunnel project. Although the Government have always insisted that the financing of the Channel tunnel is a private sector matter which must be decided solely by market forces operating at arm's length from the Government, weekend press reports in several newspapers have revealed what appears to be an extraordinary change in that policy. In particular, it is reported that Ministers and their officials have intervened with the Bank of England and with various financial institutions, including the pension funds of British Rail and the British Steel Corporation, putting pressure on the managers of those funds to make a last-minute subscription to the Eurotunnel share placing.

If those press reports are true, I must suggest that such ministerial intervention is unconstitutional and improper. Fund managers have a fiduciary duty to safeguard the interests of their pensioners; they have no duty to save Ministers from political embarrassment or Eurotunnel from financial collapse.

The House also needs to be told whether the allegations that Ministers have intervened to bring about boardroom changes at Eurotunnel are true and whether it is true, as reported, that the Government are preparing a contingency plan to subscribe taxpayers' money to shore up the Eurotunnel placing.

Whatever may be the meaning of all these boardroom and ministerial shenanigans, the fact of the matter is that the Channel tunnel project is fast becoming a discredited and busted flush. Eurotunnel's financial terms have rightly been boycotted by most British investment institutions, and some of the French backers are getting cold feet, too.

The House and the country are owed an early debate or at least an early Government statement. Best of all, the project deserves an early funeral.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Gentleman asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely, the intervention by Ministers in the financing of the Channel tunnel project. I have listened with care to what the hon. Member has said. As he well knows, my only duty when considering an application under Standing Order No. 10 is to decide whether it should take precedence over the business already set down for today or tomorrow. I regret that I cannot find that the matter that he has raised meets all the criteria laid down in the Standing Order and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.