§ Q3. Mr. Horamasked the Prime Minister if he will establish a commission to examine the London commodity markets.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Cornwall, North (Mr. Pardoe) earlier this week.—[Vol. 870, c. 846.]
§ Mr. HoramI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply, which is certainly an improvement on the supine inactivity of the previous administration in this 1323 important matter. Does he not agree that the core of the issue is that wealthy individuals and companies are pouring millions of pounds on to the commodity markets to protect themselves against inflation, thus raising industrial costs and making inflation a great deal worse for everybody else?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, it is an extremely complicated issue. In the case of many recent investments—if that is the right word—in commodity markets, it has been not so much for speculative reasons, or to gamble on the markets, as to protect the people concerned, when they found gold or silver too expensive, against a fall in the value of money both nationally and internationally. There are also big international problems here, and obviously the problem cannot be solved on the basis of a single domestic market. These are all matters which I am taking into consideration.
§ Mr. McCrindleIf such a commission is set up, will it be encouraged to look into the markets in aluminium and soya beans, in which, although there is no futures market and therefore no speculation, prices have nevertheless continued to rise?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not think that anyone who studies the problem necessarily confines it to those markets where there are futures markets. What I just said about the need for international as well as national action—which obviously struck a chord on the benches opposite—was a direct quotation from a speech which made at the Labour Party Conference last October.