§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will place in the Library the text of the undertaking given by British Rail to Eurotunnel; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. David MitchellNo. The agreement on payments to be made by British Rail and SNCF for use of the Channel tunnel is a commercial matter between the Railways and Eurotunnel.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Transport when, and in what manner, he gave permission to British Rail to guarantee payments to Eurotunnel; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. David MitchellIt was entirely the Railways' decision to agree to make regular minimum payments to Eurotunnel each year once the Channel tunnel has opened in return for entitlement to use 50 per cent. of the tunnel's capacity. The Government were however, kept informed of progress on those negotiations, and were satisfied that British Rail did not go beyond what it considered would be commercially justifiable and that thus there was no question of the treaty or section 42 of the Channel Tunnel Act being contravened.
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§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Transport what conditions have been placed by the international banks on the granting of £5,000 million loans to Eurotunnel; and if in particular they are conditional on the undertaking given by British Rail and the loan facility provided by the European Investment Bank, respectively.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe conditions placed by the international banks on the granting of credit facilities of £5,000,000,000 to Eurotunnel are a matter for the banks themselves.