§ 22. Mr. Neubertasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection whether she will make a statement on the progress made in her negotiations about the future of the Price Code.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsMany organisations have made representations, and I am considering the evidence and views put to me in the framework of the Government's economic objectives. I am very willing to receive views from other interested organisations.
§ Mr. NeubertAs it is now clear even to the Government that institutions and individuals will invest in industry only if they can earn a sufficient return on their money, will the right hon. Lady seek to advocate the abolition of the Price Code and of dividend restraint in the interests of higher investment and more jobs?
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsPerhaps conveniently, the hon. Member is forgetting, first, the genesis of the Price Code and, second, the fact that we were the Government who introduced the investment relief. But I make no bones of the fact that higher investment is of great importance, and this is a central factor in our review.