§ 5. Mr. Jannerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now take steps to prevent further rises in the prices of foodstuffs produced in Great Britain.
§ 12. Mr. John Fraserasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what notifications have been made to him of increases in food prices, and what action he has taken on them.
§ 13. Mr. Eadieasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what further steps he intends to take to protect consumers from further food price increases.
§ 23. Mr. Pavittasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he has taken since 18th June to hold down food prices and in respect of which commodities; and if he will make a statement.
§ 49. Mr. William Priceasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he proposes to take to halt rising food prices.
§ 53. Mr. Bagierasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to control the increase in the price of food for housewives.
§ 56. Mr. Juddasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on how many occasions since 24th July he intervened to prevent increases in the retail price of food; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JannerIs the right hon. Gentleman aware of the hardship which is caused by the recent increase in food prices, especially for old people and for housewives, in great cities such as Leicester? Will he indicate when the Government propose to redeem their election pledge to hold down food prices?
§ Mr. PriorI am aware that food prices have risen. I am also aware of the cause for it, and I hope that hon. Gentlemen opposite will take the blame.
§ Mr. FraserIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that over 3,000 food prices have risen since 18th June, and that by 8 abandoning the early warning system under the Prices and Incomes Act he is actually encouraging increases in prices?
§ Mr. PriorThere is another Question on the Order Paper about food prices which have risen in the past four months and I shall be answering that a little later on. As far as the early warning system is concerned, all I can say is that by shopping around—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—yes, and by using her good commonsense, the housewife can do much to bring down prices. I may also say that greater competition between traders and manufacturers can do more than all the outpourings of the Prices and Incomes Board.
§ Mr. EadieThe Minister must be aware that Members of Parliament are being inundated with complaints from constituents about rising food prices, but is he aware that there is evidence before his Ministry that in the new towns in Scotland, the new town of Livingston in particular, in my constituency, the increases of food prices are even worse than they are elsewhere?
§ Mr. Prior—but when we come to a later Question on the Order Paper he will find that some of the facts he has been uttering are not true.
§ Mr. PavittIn view of the fact that the Minister and the Government have completely abdicated all responsibility for these rising prices, will the Minister now appeal to his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to take away from his Ministry the whole responsibility for food, because he cannot serve two masters at the same time?
§ Mr. PriorPerhaps the hon. Gentleman had better try to understand one fact, and that is that average earnings are up this year by 12 per cent. and production is up by under 1 per cent., and that is a recipe for price increases and disaster if ever I knew one.
§ Mr. BagierWould the Minister not agree that his reply to this Question was very unfavourable compared to his answer on Question 3, when he said that farmers have much more faith in this 9 Government than the last? This is understandable. Would he not now agree that, having gained the housewives' votes, his policy has sold them down the river?
§ Mr. PriorAny increase in prices which has so far taken place has nothing to do with the introduction of minimum import prices or a levy scheme.
§ Mr. JuddIs the Minister aware that his answers are really not good enough? Is he really telling the House that after the whole of 13 weeks of recess he has not taken a single step to implement the pledges solemnly made by his party's leader to the electorate in the last General Election, and is he saying that he has no greater concern than this for the people on limited incomes and with low incomes when Conservative leaders have constantly been protesting concern for them up and down the country?
§ Mr. PriorWe shall welcome every assistance from all parts of the House to make the British nation understand that if they go on paying themselves a lot more for the work they are doing then prices are bound to go up.
§ Mr. Cledwyn HughesDoes the Minister realise that he is giving a series of totally unsatisfactory replies? Is he saying that he has completely forgotten the promise made by himself and his right hon. Friends during the election that they would hold down the prices of food? Does he realise that the people have completely lost faith in the Government, that he has let the housewives down? He and his party won the election on a false prospectus. Will he now return to a system of scrutinising increases in food prices and, where necessary, referring those increases to the Prices and Incomes Board, which was the policy that was successful over a long period of time for investigation?
§ Mr. PriorIf the right hon. Gentleman really believes that his party's policy was successful I am surprised that they lost the election. In fact, prices of food and the cost of living index have been going up more rapidly in the last six years than at any time since 1951. Quite apart from that, in the last year alone the increase has been 7.1 per cent. and the right hon. Gentleman knows who was responsible for that.
§ 6. Sir G. Nabarroasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a statement on changes in food prices over the past three months.
§ 17. Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by how much food prices have risen since 1st July, 1970.
§ 18. Mr. Liptonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent food prices have increased since 18th June last.
§ 46. Mr. Gregor Mackenzieasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on changes in food prices since 19th June, 1970.
§ Mr. PriorThe Food Index fell from 141.6 on 16th June to 140.6 on 22nd September, the latest figure available.
§ Sir G. NabarroWould my right hon. Friend make it abundantly clear that there cannot be any end to the increase in retail prices generally till the Government strike at the root of inflation, which is excessive public expenditure? Would he not agree that a switch to import levies will make a dynamic contribution to a reduction in public expenditure?
§ Mr. LiptonWhile having already achieved the blackest results in the shortest possible time by any Minister of Agriculture there has ever been, does the Minister really think that he and his Government can persuade the housewives by his "phoney" answers today that food prices have gone down?
§ Mr. PriorI am sorry that the hon. Gentleman has failed to do his homework. He should not try to get out of it by statements like that.
§ Mr. BoydenDoes not the right hon. Gentleman really think his party has deceived the public, not only by his feeble idea of getting the housewives to shop around, but by his policy which is aimed at putting food prices up?
§ Mr. PriorI am well aware that food prices have fallen in the last four months. This is usual at this time of year for seasonal reasons. But, of course, 11 the country has in the next few months got to face up to the very severe cost inflation of the last few months and last two years, and we have a very serious problem ahead of us. I do not underestimate this problem at all. On the question of my policy for agriculture, all I can say is that we shall be reducing Government expenditure, we shall be affording additional help to those who need it, and the rest can look forward to tax reductions in due course.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieThe Minister may be convinced but he has certainly not convinced my wife, or, I am sure, thousands of other people, that prices have come down. Will he say how he proposes to deal with what to many of us is one of the biggest rackets, and that is the hidden increases in food prices through short weight in cereals and biscuits, and so on? If he is not prepared to take any action about direct food prices will he do something about those hidden food prices?
§ Mr. PriorNo. There is absolutely no difference here from allowing the market to work. Cereal prices throughout the world are running at a much increased level compared with a year or two ago, and we have to put up with it.
§ Mr. BuchanWhy does the right hon. Gentleman try to keep up the pretence that he is concerned about keeping food prices down when in the House he has asserted that the people of this country have been molleycoddled too long with cheap food and that prices should rise? It is precisely his own policy which is happening.