	lawson says bp share offer going ahead u k chancellor of the exchequer nigel lawson said the government was going ahead with this month s flotation of british petroleum co plc bp l shares despite the collapse on international stock markets we are going ahead because the whole issue has been underwritten we had it underwritten because there is always a risk of this sort of thing happening lawson said in a bbc radio interview lawson s remarks came as renewed selling on the london stock market took bp shares down a further p to well below the p price set for the around seven billion stg issue lawson said the u k economy is fundamentally sound and added that stock markets had reflected that recently i profoundly believe in the market system as the best way for securing economic prosperity but that does not mean to say the markets are infallible my advice to small investors is to remain calm there is absolutely no reason not to do so lawson said reuter 
