§ 41. Mr. Blenkinsopasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the annual cost to Her Majesty's Government of interest, management and expenses on the National Debt has risen by £242 million since 1951; and what action he proposes to take to reduce this burden on the country.
§ Mr. BirchThe increase—excluding payments met by receipts from outside bodies under various Acts of Parliament —was £160 million. I cannot anticipate the future level of the debt charge.
§ Mr. BlenkinsopDoes the right hon. Gentleman not agree that this is a most appalling debt and, indeed, that all Her Majesty's Government appear to have done is to increase it by this appalling sum? Is not it about time that the position was made clear to the country and that the Government did something to reduce this burden?
§ Mr. BirchThe hon. Member can at any rate take satisfaction from the fact that this Government are pursuing a rational monetary policy, which his Government did not.
Mr. H. WilsonWould the right hon. Gentleman care to refresh himself on that point by rereading remarks made by hon. Members on this side of the House 1162 on 9th May last year, during the Second Reading of the Finance Bill, when eight goods reasons were given against the present level of interest rates in this country? In view of the fact that sterling has been fortified by all this borrowing from the International Monetary Fund, etc., will he allow this matter to be judged by economic circumstances and not by the morbid psychology of international speculators in sterling?
§ Mr. BirchI suggest that the right hon. Gentleman should refresh his memory by reading the criticisms from hon. Members on this side of the House when the right hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Dalton) issued the Treasury 2½ per cents.
§ Viscount HinchingbrookeIs it not abundantly clear that the net burden upon our economy caused by the internal National Debt is no more than the salaries and expenses of the administrators of the National Debt.