§ 13. Mr. BeithTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a further statement on progress towards the elimination of inflation.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Interruptions take up a lot of time.
§ Mr. BeithTalking of ultimate objectives, as the Government are acknowledged to be three years behind on their target of eliminating inflation, will the Chief Secretary tell us to what extent that is because of price increases that the Government have imposed on nationalised industries, and to what extent it is because of the Chancellor's judgment that the measures that are necessary to squeeze inflation out of the system will stop growth?
§ Mr. MajorFor reasons that are unknown to me, the hon. Gentleman's popularity seems to have grown rather substantially in the past few days.
The slower progress is not really surprising, given the strong growth performance of the economy. The hon. Gentleman touched upon that proposition in his question.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonAlthough exchange rates clearly have an important role to play in bringing down inflation, does my right hon. Friend accept that the competitive edge of British industry could be undermined if sterling continues to rise? My right hon. Friend has referred to the tremendous contributions that manufacturing has made to the British economy in recent times, but such contributions could be completely undermined. Is it not important that we keep a careful watch if we wish British manufacturing to continue to play a major role in our economy?
§ Mr. MajorAs my hon. Friend knows, it is certainly the Government's intention to ensure that manufacturing continues to grow as it has done. On that basis, we are certainly keen to aim at price stability. We agree, too, that the stability objective in the exchange rate is also a highly desirable proposition.