§ 11. Mr. HainTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give figures for (a) the percentage of people on retirement pensions as a proportion of the total adult population in Wales, (b) the number of families in Wales entitled to child benefit and (c) the percentage of employees in Wales earning under £20,280 annually.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettThe answer is (a) about 23 per cent., (b) about 350,000, and (c) about 90 per cent. Before 12 the hon. Gentleman asks his usual supplementary question—no, the people of Wales would not be better off under a Labour Government.
§ Mr. HainIs the Minister now aware that the recent figures provided by the House of Commons Library showed that only 2.5 per cent. of the population in Wales would be detrimentally affected by Labour's tax and national insurance policies, whereas 52 per cent.—including pensioners and mothers in receipt of child benefit—would benefit, in some cases substantially? Why do the Government not come clean and admit that, whereas Labour's tax policy would benefit the vast mass of people in Wales, the Government's policies would benefit and protect only a tiny privileged minority?
§ Mr. BennettThe hon. Gentleman clearly has not looked at the record of the last Labour Government. Between 1974 and 1979, Labour increased income tax by 3p in the pound. Income tax is now 8p in the pound less than it was then. A man on average income with two children would pay £1,000 per year more under Labour. That is £20 a week. The people of Wales have not forgotten that. Nor have pensioners forgotten that under the Labour Government pensions rose by an average of 0.6 per cent. per year in terms of average total incomes. Pensions have risen by 3.3 per cent. per year under the Conservatives. That is more than the total of the last five years of the Labour Government.