Cromarty Petroleum

Part of Schedule – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 25 October 1976.

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Photo of Mr Tam Dalyell Mr Tam Dalyell , West Lothian 12:00, 25 October 1976

In unvituperative terms. I wish to ask the hon. Member for Ross and Cromarty (Mr. Gray), since it should be addressed to him, one question against the background of what appears to some of us to be the fact that Mr. Ludwig and Cromarty Petroleum are putting very little, if any, of their own money into this project. My question is this: Is it not a fact that in the event of something going wrong about the project and a refinery not materialising, if there is not a 99-year lease—and I have no brief for Mr. Nightingale—the value of the land at sale would be significantly more than if there was a 99-year lease and that it could be said to be a financial encumbrance in the event of the sale of the land in certain circumstances? The hon. Member for Ross and Cromarty has an obligation to comment on that, if not to answer the question.