§ Mr. Wattsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give a comparison of the total cost to industry of (a) a 1 per cent. increase in interest rates, (b) a 1 per cent. increase in labour costs, (c) the rise in cost of imported 510W materials consequent upon a 1 per cent. decline in the pound sterling dollar exchange rate and (d) the rise in cost of imported materials consequent upon a 1 per cent. fall in the trade weighted average value of the pound sterling.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe cost to industry of a 1 per cent. increase in labour costs is approximately £1 billion in a year. This is roughly three times as large as the cost to industry of either of the two exchange rate changes (for given dollar prices of oil and other commodities) and four times as large as the cost of a one percentage point increase in interest rates.