Derek McDowell (Labour)

I am not sure that is reasonable. Perhaps the Minister could give us some indication of the level of costs involved and I presume the Department of Finance has performed some sort of risk analysis with regard to this. That the company is being broken up, assets and staff transferred, new systems established and some new staff employed to accommodate duplications in bureaucracy and administration will surely involve significant additional costs. These changes are a consequence of the Minister's initiative by virtue of a political decision by the Government and it is therefore unreasonable to impose those costs on the company. I can understand that the Minister for Finance thinks the Exchequer should not bear the costs because that is his job but the Minister for Transport should take a more reasonable view by acknowledging that it is his idea and it should be funded by the Exchequer.