HL Deb 03 March 1986 vol 472 cc2-3

2.40 p.m.

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what Treasury guarantees will be made available in the financing of the Channel fixed link.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (The Earl of Caithness)

My Lords, there will be no Government guarantees of any kind, except of course the guarantee against interruption or cancellation for political reasons.

Lord Williams of Elvel

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl for his response, which does indeed echo the terms of the White Paper. In the event of commercial failure of the project from whatever cause—and one can think of many that might intervene—would the Government let the project go as normal into liquidation, would there be no Government bail-out and would we therefore be left with perhaps two or four holes in the ground?

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, there will be no Government bail-out, as has been made clear right from the beginning of this project.

Lord Underhill

My Lords, does the noble Earl recall that when we last debated the matter in your Lordships' House I referred to a statement by his right honourable friend the Secretary of State in the other place that, in the event of money drying up before the project was completed, anything erected by then would be removed? Can he say whether that is also the view of the French Government? Also, what will be the position in regard to expenditure incurred by local authorities, by British Rail and by other developers of the infrastructure?

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, I do not believe that there is any disagreement on this matter between the French and ourselves.