We are asked to increase the aggregate amount of the advances made to the Commission. The Commission does not apply to Scotland. In the past, the advances made to the Commission have been subject to a limitof £5 million. In the Money Resolution there is no limit to what may be paid out of the Consolidated Fund to the Commission. If it is a total of £550 million, might we not by the Resolution be giving the Minister power to authorise the Commission to acquire the properties of existing new towns, to the detriment of money passing to devlopment corporations for the more rapid expansion of their work?

Under the previous Acts, the Commission was advanced £4 million. This was extended to £5 million. That was the Commission's limit. It could not acquire the property of any development corporation in excess of that amount. The Resolution places no limit on the amount the Commission can take out of the£550 million.

According to my reading of the Money Resolution, there would be nothing to prevent the Minister advancing £550 million to the Commission to enable it to acquire all the existing properties of new town corporations, or all the property it could to that value. This is a somewhat exaggerated view, but it serves as an illustration. The Money Resolution sets no limit to either the money that might flow to the Commission or to development corporations within the limit of £550 million.

This has serious implications for Scotland. The Commission does not apply to Scotland. It applies only to England and Wales. There will be considerable resentment in Scotland if the idea gets abroad that we could be short of money in Scotland to carry out new work more rapidly in such places as Cumbernauld because the Commission, operating in England and Wales, was getting an extra slice of the £550 million to enable it to acquire properties now held by new town development corporations.

I hope that my interpretation of the Money Resolution is incorrect, but I fear that it is correct. I believe that it is my duty as a Scottish Member to ensure that the Scots, who pay as much taxation as anybody else, get a fair share of any money going from the Exchequer. Five hundred and fifty million pounds is a lot of money. We think that Scotland does not get a fair share of many of the grants of money we make for various purposes.