§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the wholesale price of sugar has recently risen very greatly, and is now far in excess of any price reached during the last eight years except in the year 1905; and whether, in view of the burden which this high 898 price entails upon the poorest people of this country and upon great manufacturing industries, he will make provision in his next Budget for abolishing the sugar tax at an early date.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) My right hon. friend is aware that there has been a considerable increase recently in the market price of sugar, and he will not fail to take all relevant facts into consideration when the Budget is being prepared. He cannot, however, say anything at this stage with reference to the attitude of the Government to any particular proposal affecting taxation.