The Treasury, Public Investment And The Development Of Hydro-Electricity In The North Of Scotland, 1951-64

Abstract

During 1957 the Government's Economic Policy Committee undertook a review of the costs and development of the nationalised industries within the UK in the period immediately after I960. 1 Partly this reflected a change in Treasury perceptions on the management of future demand by the industries for State investment, but it also reflected a deep desire within the then Conservative Government that public sector costs should be sufficiently constrained to alleviate pressure on the balance of payments and reduce taxation. The electricity industry was seen as the largest single item within the programme of public investment, with an estimated growth of consumption of 10 per cent per annum forecast until the mid nineteen sixties. A key element of the review related to the borrowing requirement of the industries and its long-term impact on bank and other domestic interest rates. The Cabinet concluded: