§ 26. Mr. Fernyhoughasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the amount of post-war credits still to be paid; and what was its purchasing power at the time the money was deducted.
§ Mr. BarberAbout £330 million excluding accrued interest. It is estimated that their purchasing power would now be a little over half what it would have been when the credits were created.
§ Mr. FernyhoughCan the Economic Secretary say whether when the Chancellor of the Exchequer was framing his last Budget he considered this debt owed by the Government to millions of taxpayers? Does he not appreciate that if instead of giving £82 million in relief to Surtax payers he had decided to wipe out this debt, it would have been wiped out in four years? Would not that have been a more honourable course, since the value of the money is decreasing every day that it is owed?
§ Mr. BarberThe hon. Member might also have mentioned that it was the Conservative Government which first provided for the payment of interest and that it was not until 1959 that provision was made for some extension of the con
§ accuracy, that it would deal with the Question which he put on the Order Paper.
§ Following is the Answer:
§ ditions under which payments of these credits were made. If the hon. Member is genuinely concerned about the cost of living, his best course is to support the policy of my right hon. and learned Friend.
§ Mr. FernyhoughWill not the hon. Gentleman also remember that it was a Tory-dominated National Government which collected the tax and said they would repay it?