§ 10 Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Labour to specify the chief items responsible for the food part of the Index of Retail Prices falling in the last six months from 113.8 to 109.6.
§ 11. Mr. Lewisasked the Minister of Labour to give a list of the items of food that have decreased in price over the last few months which have resulted in a fall in the Index number of food prices.
§ Mr. WatkinsonFood items included in the Retail Prices Index which showed appreciable reductions in price between June and December, 1953, were bacon-canned ham, imported mutton, rabbits, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, cooking apples and condensed milk. Small decreases in average prices were recorded for several other food items.
§ Mr. DoddsDoes not the hon. Member recognise that there are many more times the number of articles that have gone up in price and that some of the articles he has mentioned are not purchased daily by the bulk of the house wives of this country?
§ Mr. WatkinsonI am, in answer to another Question, going to give the other side of the story, and I think that the two equally balance each other. I find it difficult to find anything in the list that I have given which does not figure in the normal expenditure of the average household.
§ Mr. LewisBut, in the main, are not these items decreased by a small amount, and is it not a fact that they are not used every day like tea, coffee, butter and so on, which have gone up? [Hon. Members: "Eggs?"] They are costing £20 million subsidy. These other items 183 to which I have referred have gone up to such an extent that it completely offsets the small decreases which have occurred in other articles.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI cannot stop hon. Members compiling their own shopping lists, but as the hon. Member said those decreases were not significant, I think I should say that bacon has gone down 11 per cent., imported mutton 15 per cent. and tomatoes 31 per cent.
§ 14. Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Labour if he will specify the items included in the food part of the Index of Retail Prices which increased in price during the last six months.
§ Mr. WatkinsonFood items included in the Retail Prices Index which showed appreciable increases in price between June and December, 1953, were home-killed beef, most kinds of fish, butter, margarine, cooking fat and sugar. The price of milk was also higher in December than in June as a result of the arrangements for seasonal variationsin the price of milk.
§ Mr. DoddsDoes not the hon. Gentleman recognise that the best index is the grocery order book of the average housewife, and will the hon. Member bear in mind that those who are in the lower income groups spend a higher proportion on the goods that have gone up in price than those in the higher income groups, and does he not think that there should be a price index for people whose income is from £500 to £600 and another for those whose income is greater than that figure?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe fact is—and I ask the House to look carefully at this matter—that it is the concern of my Ministry to present facts. Again today I have given the facts about the items of food that have gone up and the items of food that have come down. I have said that when a careful balance is taken of the expenditure of the average household it means that the food section of the index has fallen four points in the last six months.
§ Mr. ManuelWhat about the Housewives League?
§ Mr. WatkinsonIf hon. Members like to take butter instead of eggs they can make all sorts of comparisons, but I do 184 not want to argue that, because it is the duty of myself and of my Ministry to preserve this Index as something on which the wages of three million workers directly depend. I hope it will be agreed that the Ministry and I try to present the purely statistical facts of the case.
§ Colonel Gomme-DuncanIs it not the fact that under the same system of indexing in the last year of the Socialist Government the prices went up 16 per cent.?
§ 16. Mr. Lewisasked the Minister of Labour whether he has yet considered the letter from the hon. Member for West Ham, North, concerning the cost of living index figure; and whether he will make a statement in connection therewith.
§ Mr. WatkinsonAlthough this Question was put down on Thursday, 28th January, the letter referred to was dated 31st January and was received yesterday only after special inquiries had been made by my Department. By making comparisons with 1951 and selecting only those items which have risen in price, the hon. Member's letter gives a completely misleading picture of what has happened to the average level of prices during 1953. As I stated in the House last week, the average level of retail prices has been steadier during 1953 than in any recent year and the average level of all retail food prices has fallen during the last six months.
§ Mr. LewisThe Minister will be aware of the fact that I sent him the excellent front page article and leading article in the "Daily Herald" which completely answer the statements he made previously today. Why is it that the Minister has made no reference to that, and will he be good enough to have it circularised in the Official Report so that we can get the facts?
§ Mr. WatkinsonI notice that the article in question thoughtfully mentions all the prices of foods that have gone up and mentions none that have come down.
§ Mr. F. WilleyWould the hon. Gentleman agree that the difficulty about the Index is that whilst it sets out to reflect general price trends, what has happened regarding food prices is that in a condition of falling prices the Government, by their fiscal policy, have increased the prices of essential foods and that has distorted the Index?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThat has nothing to do with the case. [Hon. Members: "It has."] Perhaps I may state the facts. Every month we take 100,000 price quotations to bring the Index up to date for that month, and those quotations are spread over the entire range of the things which go into the shopping basket of the normal household. The Index was produced by the previous Administration and I hope that none of us will try to make a party political issue out of what is a bit of factual statistical analysis.
§ Mr. K. ThompsonInview of the wide interest in the literary output of the hon. Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Lewis), could we have his letter published in the Official Report?