§ 5. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of central Government expenditure as a percentage of the gross national product for 1965.
§ Mr. CallaghanIn 1965 central Government expenditure on both current and capital account, including expenditure on grants and loans to other parts of the public sector and all debt interest payments, was equivalent to 36 per cent. of gross national product at factor cost.
The hon. Member will appreciate that, for the reasons which my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary explained in answer to a Question by the hon. Member for St. Ives (Mr. Nott) on 18th January, 1967, this relationship does not provide a particularly useful measure of the share of national output taken by the public sector or its constituent parts.—[Vol. 739, c. 91–2.]