HC Deb 02 May 1974 vol 872 cc1302-3
8. Mr. Skinner

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what, on the basis of the General Index of Retail Prices, is the purchasing power of the £ sterling now, taking it at 100p on 18th June 1970.

Mr. Dell

Taking the internal purchasing power of the £ sterling as 100p in June 1970, its value in March 1974, the latest date available, is estimated to be 71p, on the basis of the change in the General Index of Retail Prices.

Mr. Skinner

Is my right hon. Friend aware that that figure covers up many casualties resulting from the operations of the last Tory Government? Will he ensure that in the course of this Parliament, at any rate, we safeguard those at the lowest end of the incomes scale? We are told that the property developers have made a claim to the Governor of the Bank of England, having fallen below the subsistence level. Will my right hon. Friend tell the House that if the property developers want bailing out they had better turn to the people who put them in their present predicament? If they cannot get anything from their friends in the Tory Party, let them make a claim upon their local supplementary benefit office.

Mr. Dell

It is the Government's aim to reduce the rate of inflation and to protect those at the lowest end of the income scale. Regarding property developers and the Government's relations with them, my hon. Friend will have seen the answer that my right hon. Friend gave him yesterday.

Mr. Ridley

I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will be prepared to answer further Questions from his hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) every month, or every time he tables a Question on how the value of the pound has declined under this administration. Is he aware that some of us feel that the regrettable decline of the past three years will be nothing compared with what will happen under the policies pursued by the present Government?

Mr. Dell

I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) has a practice of tabling such a Question as this every month. It is not for me to recommend whether he continues that practice. I do not disguise from the House the serious problems that the country faces as a result of inflationary pressures that are still in the pipeline. The Government will exert every endeavour to reduce the rate of inflation.