§ 5. Mr. William Priceasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total of company profits in 1964 and 1968, respectively.
§ Mr. DiamondThe provisional estimates published in the White Paper "Preliminary Estimates of National Income and Balance of Payments 1963–1968" indicate that the gross trading profits of the company sector, before providing for stock appreciation and depreciation, amounted to £4,616 million in 1964, and £5,194 million in 1968.
§ Mr. PriceHas my right hon. Friend seen a document entitled "The Incredible Saga of Labour Failure", written by a bunch of deadbeat businessmen, and does he know that when I challenged them on their views their main complaint was that company profits had gone down under a Labour Government? Does that not suggest that they are totally incompetent, totally prejudiced, or both?
§ Mr. DiamondTreasury Ministers are, I regret to say, too busy to read this irrelevant literature. The gross trading figures are the figures I have given. In terms of percentages of gross national product, in order to give the whole of the facts it is right to say that the figure in 1964 of gross trading profits of companies was 15.8 per cent. of total domestic income, and in 1968 it was 14.1 per cent.
§ Mr. CostainCould the Chancellor tell the House how much extra the Government have collected in tax owing to the rise in profits?
§ Mr. DiamondIf the hon. Gentleman will put down a Question, I shall be delighted to give him the answer.
§ 6. Mr. William Priceasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is satisfied with the effects of Government policy on the present level of company profits; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DiamondI am satisfied that the level of company profits is in general 1138 adequate to support a high rate of fixed investment and of economic activity.
§ Mr. DiamondThe only complaint I have heard from anybody opposite is that there was a Mowbray pie which was slightly indigestible.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneCould the Minister confirm that over this period corporate profits in this country as a proportion of gross domestic product have been declining, whereas in the United States the corporate profits as a proportion of G.D.P. have been growing? Is this not an extremely disturbing factor? Does it not partially explain the growth of the tendency towards the colonisation of European and British firms by giant firms in the United States?
§ Mr. DiamondNo, Sir. The hon. Gentleman is omitting the obvious explanation that in the United States they have not had the good fortune which we have enjoyed in this country of the transfer from the private to the public sector in the period in question.
§ Mr. CrawshawWould my right hon. Friend bear in mind that, although I myself and others of my hon. Friends support the Government's policy on prices and incomes, we find it increasingly difficult to support such policies when company profits go up by this extent? In five years £500 million in profits were made. Could we be shown that there has been some action to keep down these profits?
§ Mr. DiamondI appreciate and welcome my hon. Friend's continuing wholehearted support. But it was because I thought this to be an issue on which the whole of the facts ought to be known that I felt it right to give them in terms not only of absolute sums of money, but also in terms of the proportion of G.D.P.