§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is his estimate of the impact of his policy as outlined in the White Paper published on 25 February upon coal imports as they may affect(a) deep and (b) opencast mining; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerThe privatised electricity supply industry will be free to purchase its coal from any source. The best protection for United Kingdom coal industry sales to the electricity supply industry is that it should produce reliable supplies of coal at prices which are competitive on the world market. Since we came into office we have backed British Coal with over £9 billion of taxpayers money.