§ 2.41 p.m.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any statement to make as to the decimalisation of the currency during this Parliament.]
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I fear that I cannot add to what I said on May 6 of this year.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, will not the United Kingdom very soon be the only major or even moderate-sized country which sticks to an old-fashioned form of currency; and would it not be in keeping with Her Majesty's Government's publicised modernity and technology to adopt this procedure, which has been well examined and well recommended?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I think it is recognised that most people regard 780 this reform as highly desirable, but in the present circumstances, in view of the cost that would be involved, Her Majesty's Government do not believe that this is now the time to make a change.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that his Answer of May 6, to which he cannot now add, repeated with verbal precision an Answer which I gave to the noble Lord, Lord Fraser of Lonsdale, in May, 1960? Is he further aware that in 1961, in reply to another Question, I assured the noble Lord, Lord Fraser of Lonsdale, that the Government saw great advantages in a decimal currency and were appointing a Committee under the noble Earl, Lord Halsbury, to advise them how to do it? Is he aware that in September, 1963, the Halsbury Committee reported strongly in favour of a decimal currency, so that the Government Departments concerned have now had more than two years to study the Report? Can the noble Lord now give us some faint glimmer of hope that some day the Labour Government may begin to be a little dynamic, or must we assume that they are, in fact, irrevocably committed to perpetual stagnation?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I am sure it will be a Labour Government that will bring about the reform, but it is not for me to say when it will be. The noble Earl will recognise the great demands that we now have placed upon the resources of the nation, and we must take that as the basis of our deliberations. But I agree with the noble Earl that this is a matter to which he has referred and replied on many occasions; and the noble Lord, Lord Conesford, reminded us that Mr. Gladstone did the same.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, arising out of the question of cost, is the noble Lord aware that, on the estimate of the Halsbury Committee, it would cost £109 million if we do this by 1967, £114 million in 1968 and £128 million in 1969? Is the noble Lord aware that the sooner we do it the cheaper it will be?
§ LORD SHEPHERDBut, my Lords, at the present moment £100 million is a sizeable figure.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEWill it not be equally sizeable in 1970?
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, is it not the case that the preceding Government had two years after the recommendation in this matter in which to do something—
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEENo.
§ LORD BROCKWAY—and now the Opposition is complaining because the Government have not done it in one year?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I believe it is the habit of all Oppositions to complain, irrespective of the circumstances.