§ 2.46 p.m.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to make a Statement on the report dealing with the position of consumers and the nationalised industries.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade (Lord Trefgarne)My Lords, a Statement will be made as soon as possible.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, why are the Minister and the Government being so secretive about this Statement? Does the Minister recall that seven months ago his noble friend told the House that he expected it to be made before the end of the year and that the Minister himself on 19th March (two months ago) told me that it would be made very soon? Since I have now lost faith in what the noble Lord means by the English language, can he go a little further and tell us?
§ Lord TrefgarneMy Lords, as the noble Baroness knows, this is a complex, and indeed a very important, matter, and I am afraid that it has proved even more complex than we at first imagined. But, as I have said, we are doing our best to produce the Statement as soon as possible.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that if he takes much longer, the matter will become more and more complex and the Government will become lost in the end? Can he give us any hope that a Statement will be made before the Recess?
§ Lord TrefgarneMy Lords, while I cannot give a categoric assurance that we shall be able to do that, would say that I very much hope so.