§ 4. Mr. HaynesTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will make it his policy to publish his exchange of correspondence with the member of the European Commission responsible for competition policy regarding the coal contracts agreed between British Coal and National Power and PowerGen.
§ The Secretary of State for Energy (Mr. John Wakeham)It has been the policy of successive Governments to treat correspondence with the Commission as confidential.
§ Mr. HaynesWhat is the Secretary of State doing swanning around in Europe, fixing up contracts for imports of foreign coal, when he stood at the Dispatch Box and promised miners in this country a fair deal? The miners of Nottinghamshire will not be very pleased with him; nor will the pensioner nor the consumer. Let us have the Secretary of State at the Dispatch Box and let us have the information that we require about what he has been doing.
§ Mr. WakehamThe hon. Gentleman is wrong if he thinks that I have been swanning round Europe fixing up coal contracts. Rather the opposite: I have been to Brussels on two occasions to obtain appropriate clearance for the contracts that have been negotiated between British Coal and the generators. I am pleased to inform the House that I do not see any difficulties in that clearance. The size of British Coal's market in the United Kingdom will be limited only by its capacity to supply coal of the required quality and price.
§ Mr. KnapmanBut does not my right hon. Friend agree that, when the electricity supply industry is privatised, it will at long last be in the interests of the generators to buy cheap rather than dearer coal?
§ Mr. WakehamIt has always been in the interests of generators to buy cheap coal, but they must buy cheap coal that is of the appropriate quality. British Coal is in the best position to supply the bulk of the requirements for British generators.