§ Mr. ChurchillTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington) of 21 October,Official Report, column 315, if he will now make it his policy to establish a study of the cost to be incurred by the loss of income tax, VAT and national insurance contributions and the payment of unemployment and other social security benefits in respect of the closure of the 31 pits originally indicated in the announcement of 13 October, so far as the figure can be assessed.
§ Mr. DorrellThere is no means of accurately assessing these costs. To estimate the net cost of closing a pit it would be necessary to establish the costs of alternative courses of action. For example, the cost of subsidising a pit would have to be borne by electricity consumers, taxpayers or by diverting funds from other public expenditure programmes, all of which would have implications for employment elsewhere which are impossible to assess accurately.