§ 4. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he now intends to take to curb price increases in the private sector of industry.
§ Mr. Maurice MacmillanI would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27th October to the hon. Member for the Hartlepools (Mr. Leadbitter) and to the reply given on 2nd November to the hon. Member for Newark (Mr. Bishop).
§ Mr. HamiltonI cannot remember those answers, but I expect that they were pretty useless. Is it not the case that, far from taking steps to curb price increases, the Government have deliberately gone out of their way to encourage them? Therefore, how can the Government expect workers and trade unions to exercise any restraint since the only thing that workers have to sell is their labour?
§ Mr. MacmillanThe hon. Gentleman and, indeed, the whole House know perfectly well that not only wage demands but wage settlements have greatly exceeded any rise in the cost of living and that any additional rises for sections of wage earners resulting from my right hon. Friend's measures are very small indeed compared with those caused by the pressure of excessive wage demands on operating costs.