§ 68. Mr. McKayasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of his answer to a Question on 6th February that, using the price index for all consumer goods and services, calculated annually for national income purposes, the purchasing power of the £ sterling, taking the year 1945 as 100, had dropped to 68 in 1952, if he will give an estimate of the figure by which the retail prices have risen from 1945 to February, 1952.
§ Mr. MaudlingForty-one per cent.
§ 69. Mr. McKayasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, seeing that prices have been rising since 1952, and the national price index for all consumer goods and services indicates that the value of the £ sterling has now dropped to 63 per cent. of the 1945 value, what estimate he has formed of the rise in retail prices from 1945 until now.
§ Mr. MaudlingBetween 1945 and November, 1953, retail prices for all consumer goods and services rose by about 49 per cent. This estimate is based on the consumer price index calculated for national income purposes between 1945 and 1952 and the Interim Index of Retail Prices thereafter. The corresponding figure of the purchasing power of the £in November, 1953, taking 1945 as 100, would be 67, not 63 as suggested in the Question.