77. Mr. Leeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effects of Her Majesty's Government's financial policies on the rate of industrial production during the first quarter of 1956.
§ Sir E. BoyleI expect industrial production in the first quarter of 1956 to be higher than it was in the same period last year, but I can make no precise forecast. The Index in January, 1956, is estimated at 139–40, against 135 in January, 1955. The financial policies of Her Majesty's Government are directed to promoting a high and rising rate of production, properly divided between production for the home market and production for export.