§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection whether he will give the price of one pound of butter, cheese, sugar, beef (topside), pork (leg fillet half), bacon (middle cut plain), a standard white sliced loaf, one dozen standard eggs, and a three pound bag of flour on the date of accession to the Common Market and at the latest date; and to what extent he attributes these price rises to have been due to Great Britain's entry into the EEC.
§ Mr. MaclennanListed below are the average retail prices for these items at 12th December 1972, which was immediately before our entry into the EEC and 15th February 1977, being the latest date for which information is available:
12th December 1972 15th February 1977 p p Butter, Danish, per lb. 25.2 59.5 Cheese, cheddar, per lb. 32.0 59.5 Sugar, granulated, per kilo 9.6* 25.5 Beef, home-killed, silverside, without bone, per lb. 59.5 113.4 Pork, leg, per lb. 39.8 68.8 Bacon, middle cut, smoked, per lb 39.1 81.7 Bread, white, 1¾ lb. wrapped and sliced per loaf 10.4 19.8 Eggs, standard, per dozen 22.2 51.0 Flour, self-raising, per 3 lb. 12.1 23.6 * Converted from "per 2 lb.". It is not possible to isolate the extent to which EEC entry has been responsible for food price increases because it is not possible to estimate how prices would have moved had we not joined the EEC in January 1973. For example, it is clearly difficult to estimate the price that might in those circumstances have been negotiated with the Governments concerned for Commonwealth sugar or New Zealand dairy products.