Mr. Neubertasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the respective projected deficits for the nationalised industries in the current financial year which together amount to the £1,400 million mentioned in his Budget Statement.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettIt was estimated before the Budget that in the absence of price increases the following amounts of revenue support would be required in 1974–75:136W
£ million Coal 450 (a) Electricity (Great Britain) 430 (a) Post Office 270 Railways 280 (b) (a) Before the increases in the price of industrial coal announced on 11th March. (b) Excluding grants on capital account. Such estimates are inevitably subject to substantial margins of error.
Mr. Neubertasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as he does not intend to recover in full the total projected deficit on the nationalised industries in the current financial year, on what grounds he specifically chose to exempt gas from increased prices in his Budget Statement; and what consideration he gave to the position of persons exclusively dependent on electricity for their heating and cooking.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettIt was because of considerations of the effects on domestic consumers that we asked both the gas industry not to put forward proposals for a price increase and the electricity industry to reduce the extent of its proposed price increases.