§ 14. Sir G. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will take steps to ease hire-purchase restrictions having regard to the state of trade, particularly for motorcars, new and secondhand, consumer durables, furnishings and other such commodities.
§ Mr. Maurice MacmillanWe have no proposals for a general relaxation of hire purchase restrictions at the present time.
§ Sir G. NabarroWill my right hon. Friend undertake to review the whole field? He used the word "general", but is it not wholly bad to put all consumer durables, soft furnishings and manufactured goods of all descriptions into the same straitjacket of hire-purchase restriction? Should not there be a much greater measure of selectivity than was shown by the last Government?
§ Mr. MacmillanMy hon. Friend is raising here two rather large questions as to hire-purchase restrictions, whether they be industrial or for the control of credit and the money supply. There are signs of consumption rising in the latter half of this year, and I do not think it is appropriate to make any relaxation at the present time.
§ Mr. AshtonIs the hon. Gentleman aware that one of the reasons for the state of trade in the industry is that British Leyland, for exactly the same car, put up prices by 4 per cent. in March and by a further 4 per cent. in October, and that in six months this is a bigger increase than car workers have received and is one of the reasons that British motor cars are losing the market to foreign cars?
§ Mr. MacmillanQuestion Time is not necessarily the best moment to try to allocate blame for what is wrong with the motor car industry and causing a great deal of dislocation and difficulty.