Government pulls the lead out
Page 20
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THE GOVERNMENT last week agreed to bring the maximum lead content of petrol down to 0.40 grams per litre.
Mr Denis Howell, Minister of State for the DoE, told the Commons that a suggestion by Mrs Joyce Butler (Labour, • Wood Green) that the 0.40 level should be achieved by staged reductions was a "sound, sensible and balanced approach.'
The Government had decided to come down to this level by 1981 in three stages—to 0.50 grams as soon as possible, to 0.45 grams by 1978 and to 0.40 grams by 1981.
His only regret, said Mr Howell, was that the balance of payments position did not enable the Government to reach the target sooner than 1981.
This scheme would cost £70 million on the balance of payments, but if we moved to the final level immediately it would cost £170 million.
The 0.40 level is that proposed by the EEC, but, the Germans had moved beyond that to 0.15 grams per litre. He warned that unless British manufacturers were encouraged to manufacture engines capable of reaching the standards demanded in Europe and the United States this was bound to have an adverse effect on their future export prospects. And that had been an important factor in the Government's considerations.