§ 19. Mr. Rossasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what would be the amount of the increase or decrease in the interest payments on the National Insurance Funds if the rate of such interest payments were at the same level as the present Bank Rate.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAbout £40 million increase in the annual investment income of the National Insurance Fund, the National Insurance (Reserve) Fund and the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Funds together calculating the interest on the cost price of investments.
§ Mr. RossThis will be welcome and will certainly help the Minister in some of the calculations he is making, but why this tenderness to the Treasury in a matter of cheap borrowing when forcing up the cost of money to everyone else? Is it related to the prospects or hopes of the right hon. Gentleman arising out of future Government changes?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterAs the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the expedient which he suggests would be no more and no less than an increased and imperfectly concealed Exchequer grant, and, in view of the increases in Exchequer grants in recent years, I do not think it is a reasonable proposition.
§ Mr. HoughtonDoes this mean that the Government are now swindling the National Insurance Fund as they are already swindling gilt-edged investors?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI am sorry that the hon. Gentleman should suffer from the infection of using Wykehamist adjectives.