§ 32. Mrs. Mannasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what positive steps he has taken and intends to take, by price control or otherwise, to stabilise the cost of food.
§ Mr. GodberThe Government consider that free competition secures the best terms for consumers in service, quality and price. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced measures to restrain inflationary increases in the cost of living as a whole, which will, I am sure, prove more effective than any measures concerned with food alone.
§ Mrs. MannWill the hon. Gentleman tell the Minister that the cost of living as a whole has risen 27 per cent. since 1951 and that the cost of food has risen 46.5 per cent.? He has done nothing at all about it. Will the hon. Gentleman say when it will penetrate to his mind that stability in the cost of food is absolutely essential to Britain's economy? When is it going to penetrate the Minister's skull?
§ Mr. GodberI am very grateful to the hon. Lady for giving me the opportunity of reminding her and the House that in the last three months the food item in the cost of living index has gone down from 108.4 to 104.8, and that since 1st January it has risen by only a portion of one point; so that for a great part of this year it has been constant.
§ Mr. WilleyDoes the hon. Gentleman not realise it is most unsatisfactory to say that it has risen by only one point when food prices in the world have fallen and the taxpayers are supporting the home producers to the extent of £250 million because of that fall? Why cannot we have that reflected in retail prices?
§ Mr. GodberI was pointing out that the position is much better than the hon. Lady had made it out to be.