§ Mr. Meacherasked the Prime Minister what are the precise terms of reference and coverage of the inquiry into the leak of Budget secrets, and if it includes No. 10 Downing Street.
§ The Prime MinisterThe inquiry is to establish whether there was a leak of official information in advance of the Budget, and if so what the source was. There are no precise terms of reference. It extends to all who had access to the relevant information.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Prime Minister if she will include within the coverage of the inquiry into the leak of details of the 10 March Budget an investigation into whether comparable leaks occurred when similar details were published from the two previous Budgets.
§ The Prime MinisterNo. Such investigations as were considered necessary into previous incidents were carried out at the time. I do not propose to give further details of such inquiries.