§ 22. Mr. Barnettasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the overall balance of payments surplus to be achieved in 1969; and what is his estimate for the following five years.
§ Mr. Harold LeverI advise my hon. Friend to wait for my right hon. Friend's Budget speech.
§ Mr. BarnettDoes that mean that the Chancellor is changing his policy and is no longer going for a £500 million target for the foreseeable future? Would not this be the best thing to do in so far as it does not particularly help us or the expansion of world trade to pursue that sort of unattainable target?
§ Mr. LeverMy hon. Friend obviously does not wish to accept my advice. I imagine that he will find my right hon. Friend's speech on this subject more rewarding that he would find a brief 217 answer from me to a supplementary question.
§ Mr. Ian LloydWhy is the Financial Secretary prepared to lend the vestigial authority of his office to these wholly spurious and bogus forecasts of events over which the Government have had no control for some years and over which they are likely to have even less control in the future?