§ 58. Mr. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the fact that the purchasing power of the £ has depreciated by about 50 per cent. since 1938, if he will consider giving an additional capital repayment to the working-class holders of National Savings Certificates up to a maximum of £500, who purchased before 1939 and who, otherwise, will have been deprived of approximately half their real savings.
§ Mr. DaltonI cannot accept either the hon. Members' proposal, or the assumptions on which it is based.
§ Mr. OsborneMay I ask the Chancellor if he does not read the Statistical Abstract which his own Government publish, because in that the average imports price is 218 per cent., and the exports price 205 per cent., over the 1938 level? Does that not represent a 50 per cent. reduction in the purchasing power of the £?
§ Mr. DaltonNo, Sir, because I think the hon. Member is trying to draw the wrong deductions from irrelevant figures.
§ Mr. OsborneThose figures were supplied by His Majesty's Government. Are all their figures equally unreliable?
§ Mr. DaltonI will give another figure which is relevant; that is that we are spending nearly £400 millon this year on food subsidies to maintain the purchasing power of the £.