HC Deb 20 December 1927 vol 212 cc237-8W
Mr. W. BAKER

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the percentage of the national income which was spent on armaments in 1899 as compared with 1926?

Mr. CHURCHILL

No estimates of national income are available, so far as I am aware, for the years in question; but taking unofficial estimates for the nearest years available, namely, 1903 and 1924, the effective expenditure on armaments would in each case work out at about 2.5 per cent. of national income.