§ Mr. Berryasked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether he will consider the institution of representative consumers' councils, both national and regional, to protect the interests of coal consumers, including price fixing of coal pit-head prices and margins allowable to distributors.
§ Mr. ShinwellYes, Sir. The question of protecting the interests of consumers is being carefully considered in connection with the nationalisation of the coal industry; but the fixing of the prices to be charged, and of distributors' margins, could not be left to such councils as he suggests, especially if they were representative of consumers only.