§ Mr. KnoxTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the partly paid BP shares purchased by the Bank of England.
§ Mr. LawsonUnder the terms of the BP share support scheme, which were announced on 29 October and which closed on 6 January, 38,576,002 partly paid BP shares were repurchased by the Bank of England. These shares could not be sold by the Bank, unless at a price in excess of 120p per share, before 30 April 1988. Now that this date has passed, I propose, subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary revised estimate, that the Treasury should purchase these shares from the issue department of the Bank, at the prevailing market price. Her Majesty's Government have no immediate plans to resell these shares though it is their intention to do so at some time in the future. A revised estimate will be presented shortly, and will provide for the costs of purchase and of paying the second instalment on the purchased shares.