§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish a table of figures giving the six-monthly depreciation in the purchasing value of a Member of Parliament's salary since October, 1964, when it was raised to £3,250 per annum; and whether he will give this in cash terms and as a percentage of its original purchasing value.
§ Mr. HigginsTaking the value of a Member of Parliament's salary as being £3,250 in October, 1964, its value both in cash terms and as a percentage of its original purchasing value in April and October of the years 1965 to 1970 and in March, 1971, the latest date for which information is available, is given in the table below:
£ Per cent. 1964 October … … 3,250 100.0 1965 April … … 3,136 96.5 October … … 3,104 95.5 1966 April … … 3,032 93.3 October … … 2,994 92.1 1967 April … … 2,941 90.5 October … … 2,937 90.4 1968 April … … 2,821 86.8 October … … 2,787 85.8 1969 April … … 2,677 82.4 October … … 2,647 81.5 1970 April … … 2,557 78.7 October … … 2,488 76.5 1971 March … … 2,388 73.5 These comparisons are based on the movement in the annual Consumer Price Index adjusted by the movement in the General Index of Retail Prices to obtain estimates for individual months.