Former MP for Edmonton
I am sure that there was a great deal in what the hon. Lady the Member for Chorley (Mrs. Monks) said with which we would all agree, but she will perhaps excuse me if I do not comment on her speech in detail. One of the most interesting speeches we have heard today was that of the hon. Member for Flint, West (Sir A. Meyer), who plainly hankered after a coalition. A coalition would solve...
How?
I am sure that after that speech the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Sir J. Rodgers) will join the Opposition in the Division Lobby in defence of his constituents for a re-examination of the Channel Tunnel project, which, if carried out on the lines suggested by my right hon. Friend the Member for Grimsby (Mr. Crosland), would avoid the difficulties to which he referred.
That means that the hon. Gentleman is voting with the Government. I have no constituency interest. I want to deal with the national, social and economic consequences of building the tunnel. Whatever assessment we make of the value of the tunnel it must take its place in the order of priority of Government expenditure, for, as hon. Members well understand, this is not a private enterprise...
Personally, I should much prefer such a scheme but we should have to consider whether the tunnel operators would be prepared to accept a change of Government policy on the lines which the Opposition have been suggesting. If they refused, the matter would have to be reconsidered. We cannot go into a vast scheme of this sort at very great cost, and absorbing a large part of our national...
The Minister has completely misunderstood the point. All I was saying was that those who own motor cars may find it less pleasant to use them in future because of the very high costs involved. I was not suggesting that they should be restricted in their use of them.
Are those loans secured on the assets of the company or on the production line of Concorde alone?
Is the Minister saying that there has been no cause of inflation of cost due to changes in technical requirements?
