§ 24. Mr. Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will now change the system of reporting trade figures by giving these on a quarterly instead of a monthly basis.
§ Mr. NobleNo, Sir. The monthly trade figures, though subject to irregular movements and special influences, are of value if properly used and interpreted.
§ Mr. FinsbergDoes my right hon. Friend recall a previous supplementary answer, when his right hon. Friend said that he had a certain sympathy with this point of view? Will he look at it again? Publication of these erratic monthly figures does great discredit to this country because certain people take unscrupulous advantage of the odd monthly changes.
§ Mr. NobleYes, Sir. I have some sympathy with my hon. Friend in this matter. The problem is that practically all the developed countries produce their figures monthly, as do international organisations such as the United Nations and the OECD. Thus, if we were to move to three-monthly figures, it would be open to almost everybody to speculate from other sources what our figures might be. This might well do more damage.
§ Mr. KaufmanRecalling the Chancellor of the Exchequer's ludicrous and discredited accusations against the then Labour Government of fiddling the trade figures, will the right hon. Gentleman resist all attempts by his non. Friends to fiddle the trade figures on behalf of the Government as the trade balance inevitably declines towards the next General Election?