§ 47. Captain Pilkingtonasked the Prime Minister what action the Government have taken to increase our national output, to keep the people fully employed, to halt the rising cost of living and to preserve our social services; and whether he will show by comparisons with previous years what the results of these plans have been.
§ The Prime MinisterThe objectives stated by my hon. and gallant Friend have been consistently followed by Her Majesty's Government. Unemployment has been running at record low levels this year.
§ Mr. ChetwyndWhat about the cost of living?
§ The Prime MinisterThe social services have been fully maintained. [HON. MEMBERS: "Housing?"] Production continues to improve. The Government's present fiscal and monetary policies are designed to create conditions in which price stability can be achieved—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—provided that restraint is forthcoming from all sections of the community.
§ Captain PilkingtonIs my right hon. Friend aware that this Question is an exact repetition of a Question put down 1000 by the hon. Member for West Ham. North (Mr. Lewis) nearly three years ago, and is not all this Answer very good news for both sides of the House?
§ Mr. BellengerMay I ask you Mr. Speaker, whether it is not more suitable that a propaganda statement by the Government should be made at a time other than Question Time, because the Notice Paper is already over-full, and the Government have plenty of opportunities for that sort of thing?
§ Mr. SpeakerI know nothing about propaganda, but I must say that the Question itself struck me as one of very great scope and one that could be more suitably dealt with in a general debate on the state of the nation.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonWhile appreciating that the Question may have been arranged for propaganda purposes—
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman is quite wrong.
§ Mr. Morrison—can the Prime Minister—
§ Captain PilkingtonOn a point of order. Is it not quite wrong for the right hon. Gentleman to suggest that any Question has been arranged?
§ Mr. SpeakerIn so far as that suggests an imputation of motive it would be out of order, but I do not know that the right hon. Gentleman had that in mind. The right hon. Gentleman had better say what he meant.
§ Mr. MorrisonMay I assure you, Mr. Speaker, and the hon. and gallant Gentleman that I was not imputing any corrupt or improper motive. It is well known that Questions are sometimes arranged between back benchers and Ministers—[HON. MEMBERS: "The right hon. Gentleman should know."]—and I was asking the Prime Minister whether that was so in this case. May I ask him if he is aware that at the General Election of 1951 the Conservative Party specifically promised reductions in the cost of living, and whether there were not similar implications in 1955? What does he say about the undoubted fact that the cost of living has steadily risen ever since?
§ The Prime MinisterI should like to comfort the right hon. Gentleman. The Question was not arranged, but I had informed myself of figures in case the right hon. Gentleman should ask that supplementary question. In the four years from October, 1951, to October, 1955, retail prices rose by 18 per cent. This compares with a rise of 28 per cent. over the four previous years.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonIs it not a fact that two points arise in this connection? One is that the circumstances are different. The second is that in Conservative official literature, if that is the right name for it, at the General Election of 1951, specific promises were given that the Conservative Party would reduce the cost of living.
§ The Prime MinisterThe facts were different, and the rise was much less under the Conservative Government than under the Socialists.
§ Mr. SpeakerThis seems to be a highly explosive question. We ought to get on to the hydrogen bomb. Mr. Mason.