§ Mr. Freesonasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will introduce legislation to ensure that all petrol stations have lead-free petrol available by 1985:
(2) if he will consider introducing legislation to ensure that all new cars manufactured by 1985 must be modified to use lead-free petrol;
(3) if he will consider introducing legislation to require that the lead content in petrol should be reduced to .15 grants per litre earlier than 1985.
§ Mr. David HowellI am satisfied that oil companies will need until the end of 1985 to complete the changes required to achieve a 60 per cent. reduction in lead content while maintaining petrol quality. In the Government's view a further reduction would he of doubtful benefit and the high cost of producing lead-free petrol and cars to run on that fuel could not be justified.