HC Deb 04 March 1957 vol 566 cc20-1
49. Mr. Dodds

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the rapidity with which increases are taking place in the price of bread in a relatively short space of time, if he will give consideration to introducing price control.

57. Mr. Hunter

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the further increase in the price of bread this week and the hardship these continuous increases are causing to large families and those on fixed incomes, if he will now introduce price control for a definite period of twelve months.

Mr. Godber

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply given to the hon. Member for Brixton (Mr. Lipton) on 21st February.

Mr. Dodds

Is not the hon. Gentleman aware that that is a most unsatisfactory answer? Does he not recollect that when I raised the subject of bread prices on the Adjournment in July last the hon. Gentleman representing the Department ridiculed, from his brief, my prophecy that the 1¾ 1b. loaf would rise in price from 11d. to 1s.? Is he aware that, although the Minister last week denied statements that 1s. was charged, my hon. Friends have received angry letters from all parts of Britain to the effect that there are 1s. loaves? Has not his Department made a miscalculation, and is it not time something was done to halt the rapid increase in the price of bread?

Mr. Godber

I do not think the Department was wrong. Prices have risen since the inevitable increase resulting from decontrol. There was a rise of ½d. which took a period of about a month to spread fairly widely over the country. Since then there has been a further ½d. rise in some areas, but not in all. While it may be possible that in some areas higher prices are charged, it would be more correct to say that in most parts of the country the price is 11d.

Mr. Hunter

Is the Minister aware that a loaf which costs 1s. today would have cost only 6d. in 1951, which represents an increase of 100 per cent.? This is causing great concern to large families, old-age pensioners, and people living on fixed incomes. Will the hon. Gentleman ask his right hon. Friend to look into the question of reintroducing price control?

Mr. Godber

I do not think that the reintroduction of price control would be right. I sympathise with the people the hon. Gentleman has in mind, but I think he would agree with me that in 1951 there was a substantial subsidy element present. Since that has disappeared, those in the worst position have received other amounts to compensate for that to some extent. That should be borne in mind in considering the whole question.

Mr. H. Wilson

Did not Lord Woolton, on behalf of the Conservative Party, give a clear pledge in 1951 that these subsidies would not be cut?

Mr. Godber

That is rather an old question which certainly goes far beyond the bounds of the Question on the Order Paper.