§ 39. Mr. Ridleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the gross national product was expended by national and local government taken together in 1964–65; and what percentage he estimates it will be for 1967–68.
§ Mr. CallaghanTotal expenditure by central and local government (including debt interest and grants and net lending to public corporations) in 1964–65 was £12,294 million. Gross national product at factor cost in the same year was £29,506 million. 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—[Vol. 739, c.91]—I do not think it is useful to express the first of these figures as a percentage of the second.
Corresponding estimates for 1967–68 are not yet available.