Retail Price Index (Hansard, 17 July 1978)

§ 8. Mr. Molloy
asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what is the latest figure for prices in the retail price index.

§ 10. Mr. Shepherd
asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection whether he will give the increase in the retail price index since February 1974.

§ 17. Mr. John Evans
asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what is the current rate of inflation.

§ Mr. Hattersley
The retail price index in June stood at 197.2. This represents an increase of 93.9 per cent. since February 1974, and an increase of 7.4 per cent. in the last 12 months.

§ Mr. Molloy
Despite the freneticism of the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) and the vulgar outburst we have just witnessed from the hon. Member for Gloucester (Mrs. Oppenheim) over price increases, does my right hon. Friend agree that the Conservatives kept the House going for nearly 48 hours, opposing 13 any control of prices? Is not their behaviour this afternoon disgraceful? Is he aware that his contribution in this matter has dramatically aided the fight against inflation, in getting the co-operation of the trade unions and the CBI, and that all this appalling business we have witnessed this afternoon is in opposition to co-operation—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I can see that I am in for a very rough fortnight. May I ask hon. Members to try to be brief, in the interests of their colleagues whose Questions are lower down on the Order Paper?

§ Mr. Molloy
Is my hon. Friend aware that what he is doing, and what causes the Opposition to be annoyed, is making a contribution to the fight against inflation in the interests of our country and our people?

§ Mr. Hattersley
I am very grateful to my hon. Friend. I rejoice in the fact that some of the contributions made by Opposition Back Bench Members are being broadcast into about 1 million homes at the moment. These people will no doubt make their own judgment of the character and the conduct of the Tory Party.

§ Mr. Adley
You worry about food prices.

§ Mr. Hattersley
On a more important note than the character and conduct of the Tory Party, the point made by my hon. Friend is important in that success in bringing inflation under control over the past two years has been the result of the activities of every member of the population. There has been a contribution made by the trade union movement, which has shown wisdom and restraint. What I hope is that those who are not irrevocably prejudiced in these matters will wish the Government well in their attempt to achieve next year the sort of success on inflation that we have had last year so that we can genuinely get the country back on to a proper inflation path.

§ Mr. Shepherd
Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to correct an impression given by his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister during Question Time last Tuesday that a large amount of this deplorable increase was due to our 14 membership of the European Community? Will he make it quite clear that he is in agreement with the answers given by his departmental colleagues to the effect that this factor accounts for no more than 2 per cent. to 3 per cent. of the increase at the outside? Will he recognise that this enormous increase is totally as a result of the Government's deplorabe policy and atrocious success rate?

§ Mr. Hattersley
Tory Members normally confuse the different indices intentionally. I think that the hon. Gentleman's confusion is a genuine mistake. I do not argue for a moment that the increase in the RPI is about 1.7 per cent. to 2 per cent. as a result of membership of the Common Market. With the food index, about which the Tory Party has just made such a fuss, the increase is much larger than that because of the relationship between the food index and the RPI and because of the common agricultural policy's effect on food. Despite my unallayed enthusiasm for British membership of the EEC, I cannot pretend other than that the CAP has had a material effect on food prices in this country.

§ Mr. Evans
Will my right hon. Friend accept that his announcement of a 7.4 per cent. increase in the retail price index will be welcomed by millions of consumers in this country? Will he also agree that the action of the Government in reducing inflation to this level, with the full co-operation of the trade union movement, will go a long way to ensuring the return of a Labour Government at the next General Election?

§ Mr. Hattersley
I hope and believe that both of those statements are true. More important in the immediate future is the need to ensure that we continue with the policies which have brought success over the past two years. I can only repeat that the Tory Party, in trying to diminish the achievements of the British people and trying to pretend—

§ Mr. Giles Shaw
Hear, hear.

§ Mr. Hattersley
The hon. Member says "Hear, hear". The Tory Party, in trying to diminish the achievements of the British people, is making it much more difficult for a successful policy on inflation to continue. I believe that we shall 15 triumph over that, but what I hear from the Opposition Benches scarcely makes it sound like the party of patriotism.

§ Mr. Neubert
To put the Secretary of State's statement in perspective, is it not the case that whereas our rate of inflation is down to 7.4 per cent—a low point and now likely to rise—West Germany's rate of inflation is down to 2.4 per cent.? What plausible explanation is there for our rate of inflation being three times worse other than four and a half years of Labour Government?

§ Mr. Hattersley
This selective use of figures gets sillier and more transparent every time it happens. The fact is that today the British inflation rate is lower than the average rate in the OECD. That is an enormous achievement.