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Mr. Gordon Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is the cost to (a) the Government and (b) British Gas of having to buy hack shares where a final instalment is not paid.
Mr. Peter Morrison
The cost of making repayments to investors in cases where the instalment is not paid will be met out of proceeds from reselling the shares in question on the market. There will therefore be no net cost to either British Gas or the Government.
Mr. Gordon Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many shareholders are there in British Gas (a) who have paid the final instalment and (b) who have not paid the final instalment.
Mr. Peter Morrison
On Sunday 17 April, some three quarters of the 2ยท85 million payments had been received. Considerable numbers have been coming in since.