§ Q3. Mr. Skinnerasked the Prime Minister what plans he has to include in his Government a Minister with sole responsibility for price control.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on Tuesday to Questions from himself and from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Carter).—[Vol. 825, c. 125.]
§ Mr. SkinnerIf the Prime Minister were to appoint a Minister for Price Control, that Minister would have no authority because he would be undermined by a Secretary of State who is sponsoring inflation by inflicting savage rent increases, by a Department of Trade and Industry which is obsessed with sacking people and by a Chancellor of the Exchequer who is busily instructing employers, including the National Coal Board, to cut back real wages. Does not the Prime Minister realise that this is not a free-for-all but the survival of the wealthiest?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir.
§ Sir R. ThompsonIs my right lion. Friend aware that statutory responsibility for price control involves wage and salary control, from which the previous Government shied away and which is odious to the trade unions and unacceptable to employers?
§ The Prime MinisterI agree with the general tenor of my hon. Friend's supplementary question. He is not entirely 1223 correct in saying that the previous Administration shied away from wage and salary control. They first went for guidelines, then voluntary restraint, then compulsory legal restraint and they then abandoned the whole lot and now have no policy of any kind.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettWill the Prime Minister now say whether his Government are in favour of salary control?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, I do not think that arises.