§ 43. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the President of the Board of Trade how much imports and exports increased in volume over the first five months of the year, as compared with the first five months of 1967.
§ Mr. CroslandImports, excluding military aircraft from the United States, by 8 per cent. seasonally adjusted, and exports by 4 per cent.
§ Mr. DigbyI am glad that the figures appear to be better for the first three months. Is there not still much evidence of the spending spree sucking in too many imports?
§ Mr. CroslandNo. To judge by the figures of retail sales, it is fair to say that the spending spree is largely over. If one takes an index of the volume of retail sales, this was running at about 106 in the three months before the Budget and how now come down to 100. This suggests that the spending spree is substantially over.
§ Mr. LubbockIf the right hon. Gentleman excludes figures relating to military aircraft imports from the United States, why should he not exclude figures of exports of military aircraft from this country? Will he give the true figures?
§ Mr. CroslandThe true figures are given, as the hon. Gentleman surely knows, in every monthly Press statement on the trade figures in which we quote figures of imports, with and without military aircraft, from the United States in precisely the same fashion as has been followed in this country for the last 20 years.
§ Mr. BarnettWould my right hon. Friend give us some figures relating to his spot checks on retail sales? Some of the figures reported in the Press have 515 been somewhat confusing. Has he any figures to indicate a more recent trend of retail sales?
§ Mr. CroslandAs far as we still give spot check figures, they show no change in trend compared with the last monthly figures we published a few days ago. A number of different figures are announced by department stores to the Press, but it is wrong to assume that these stores, which are announcing large increases, are necessarily representative of the retail trade as a whole.