HC Deb 03 May 1967 vol 746 cc530-2
34. Mr. W. Molloy

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action has been undertaken by his Department, on receipt of notification of increases in retail food prices, which offend the principles of the prices and incomes standstill.

Mr. Peart

Where a notification offends the prices and incomes policy my Department immediately points this out to the firm concerned and asks them to reconsider it.

Of the 167 notifications of proposed price increases by manufacturers which we had dealt with by 25th April, 70 were fully in accordance with the policy. Of the rest, in all but two cases the firms either withdrew or modified their proposals to accord with the policy. In the two other cases my right hon. Friend the First Secretary and I considered taking action under Part IV of the Prices and Incomes Act, but in the end the firms reversed their price increases, so making statutory action unecessary.

Mr. Molloy

I appreciate my right hon. Friend's difficulty in this context, but is he not aware that the rise in food prices, particularly in small retail shops, the slipping on of 2d. and 3d., has caused great suspicion? In conjunction with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, will he have a hard look at the official index, which is now becoming almost laughable and something of which no one takes serious notice?

Mr. Peart

I will certainly bear in mind what my hon. Friend has said, but between 20th July, 1966, when the prices and incomes policy was introduced, and March, 1967, there was an increase of only 1.1 per cent. as compared with an average of 1.6 per cent. over the same period of the previous two years.

Mr. Heffer

Is it not quite obvious, despite my right hon. Friend's reply, that these figures are not accepted by the housewife? Will he consider with the First Secretary establishing a system of price control offices, associated with local authorities, which could then be approached by housewives and which could investigate the situation, as hap- pened in France when there was both a wage and price freeze in that country?

Mr. Peart

I hope that my hon. Friend will not give the example of France.

Mr. Heffer

What is wrong with it?

Mr. Peart

The situation is quite different. Here we have a vigorous Parliamentary democracy and it is, therefore, not easy to impose something which could not really be done even in wartime.

Mr. Prior

Is it not the long-term result of the policy of trying to keep down prices that competitors are merely brought together, so that they no longer compete, and in the end does not that force up prices?

Mr. Peart

The hon. Gentleman must recognise that whatever the arguments about the index, the figures which I have given are comparable figures and show an improvement.

Mr. Heffer

On a point of order. In view of that unsatisfactory reply, I shall seek to raise the matter on the Adjournment at the earliest possible moment.