Lord Elton
Main Page: Lord Elton (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Baroness Rawlings
I cannot say anything about the final decision that the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, has asked for. This is still open to consultation until a certain date, and it will be very interesting. The Secretary of State will then look at it all. There will be independent shareholdings. The Murdoch press will own 39 per cent, but the rest will be open to the public. It is a little unfair of the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, to criticise the Secretary of State. He has made this absolutely clear right from the beginning. Everything is published and available in the Library—papers of every meeting are available for scrutiny by anyone who wants to do so. If people have been worried about anything at any stage, he has always seen them. So I think he is being a little tough.
Lord Elton
My Lords, I have a brief question to ask my noble friend. As I understand it, the situation is that the shareholding is limited to 39.1 per cent at the point of entry into this system, but we hear that the Secretary of State will have to give permission if further shares are to be brought in. Can my noble friend tell us on what grounds that permission would be given, because that is a very important factor?
Baroness Rawlings
My noble friend Lord Elton is absolutely right to say that it is 39.1 per cent, but I cannot give him any further details about further permissions because they are not in my briefing.