§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the reserves were spent in June in supporting the pound.
§ Mr. LilleyThe underlying fall in the reserves in June was $2,236 million but this was the result of a variety of transactions including, for example, transactions for Government Departments, with other central banks, and interest receipts and payments as well as intervention. It has never been the practice of the Government to publish figures of how much it has intervened in the foreign exchange markets in support of its exchange rate objectives.