§ 7. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what adjustment he has now made to the forecast of domestic credit expansion during the current financial year contained in his Letter of Intent to the International Monetary Fund.
§ 16. Mr. Sheldonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has now made of the level of domestic credit expansion in the current financial year.
§ 50. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amendment he has made of his earlier forecast of domestic credit expansion this year.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI expect the expansion of domestic credit during the financial year to be well inside the £400 million ceiling mentioned in the Letter of Intent.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneIn that case is it not time that the Chancellor should remove the renewal of the import deposits scheme which he was not expecting to renew when he wrote the Letter of Intent?
§ Mr. JenkinsNo, I do not think so. The £400 million was a ceiling. I have always told the House that I thought it right to do at least as much as we told the I.M.F. we would do, perhaps more. While we are somewhat below the ceiling, the balance of payments out-turn looks like being a great deal more satisfactory than anyone anticipated.
§ Mr. SheldonSince events of the last few months seem to show that the relationship between domestic credit expansion and inflation is nothing like as certain as that which the I.M.F. predicted, is it not clear that the original Treasury view had something to commend it?
§ Mr. JenkinsI am sure that the original Treasury view had a great deal to commend it.
§ Mr. Frank AllaunIn view of the country's greatly improved financial position, will the Chancellor now give priority to ending the credit squeeze in the house-building industry, which is crippling the small and medium-sized 231 builder, and help to halt the critical decline, the highly serious decline, in the house-building industry in this way?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member should not anticipate his own later Question.
§ Mr. JenkinsOn the first part of the question, the part which I understood to be in order, it is not the case that because a policy has worked effectively it is right to abandon it. On the latter point, I will bear in mind, as I bear in mind other considerations, the particular problem mentioned by my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. PeytonBefore the right hon. Gentleman allows the glow of self-satisfaction to overcome him, will he reflect that although there has been a very welcome improvement in the balance of payments—and we are, of course, all delighted about that—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"]—nevertheless he and the Treasury have to answer for very high figures of unemployment, very steeply rising prices and grotesque taxes?
§ Mr. JenkinsI think the hon. Member is endeavouring to take the question even wider than did my hon. Friend the Member for Salford, East (Mr. Frank Allaun).