§ Sir J. Edenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the gross national product would have been taken by defence in each of the last 10 years if the total of defence expenditure had been pegged to a fixed sum throughout the period.
§ Mr. DiamondIf expenditure on the Defence Budget had been pegged at the 1954–55 level throughout the ten-year period 1954–55 to 1963–64, this would have represented in terms of constant prices the following percentage of gross national product in each of the years concerned:
Per cent. 1954–55 … … … 8.0 1955–56 … … … 7.8 1956–57 … … … 7.6 1957–58 … … … 7.5 1958–59 … … … 7.5 1959–60 … … … 7.1 1960–61 … … … 6.9 1961–62 … … … 6.7 1962–63 … … … 6.6 1963–64 … … … 6.3