§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether, having regard to the difficulties of the Grosvenor-Chater Paper Mill at Greenfield, Clwyd, where there is short-time working and where considerable difficuties are being experienced as a result of competition from overseas papermakers benefiting from subsidised energy, he will urgently consider the means by which energy subsidies of a comparable kind can be made available to paper mills of this kind.
§ Mr. Norman LamontI am aware of the financial difficulies facing the paper and board industry. The data it has collected on comparative energy prices are being disussed in the NEDC task force, and we will of course consider sympathetically what action is possible both within the United Kingdom and internationally if unjustifiable disparities come to light. But we cannot afford subsidies, which involve the underpricing of our valuable energy resources.