§ 28. Mrs. Mannasked the Minister of Food if he is aware that the cost-of-living index showed an increase between February and March in the prices of butter, cheese, eggs, tea, potatoes, tomatoes and cooking apples and, between March and April, further increases in cabbage, tomatoes and fish; and, in view of the importance of price stability to our national economy, if he will reconsider his decision to remove all controls.
Dr. HillEven after the seasonal and other increases to which the hon. Member refers, the food section of the Index was in April at approximately the same level—within one-tenth of one point—as a year earlier. So high a degree of stability contrasts with the sharp rises during the last years of the previous Administration.