§ Mr. Woofasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection in comparing the cost of food in the EEC with that available outside, what weighting is attached to prices for cereals, dairy products, fruit, meat and sugar, in reaching conclusions about the overall effect of EEC membership on food prices in Great Britain.
§ Mr. MaclennanThere is no official estimate of the effect of EEC membership on food prices because it is not possible to estimate reliably how prices might have moved had we not joined the Community. It is not sufficient just to compare the cost of food in the EEC with that available outside. For example, it is clearly difficult to estimate the prices at which we would have been able to buy Commonwealth sugar or New Zealand dairy produce if we were not in the EEC.
United Kingdom: Percentage change* February 1974 to October 1974 October 1974 to February 1975 February 1975 to October 1975 October 1975 to February 1976 February 1976 to October 1976 October 1976 to February 1977 February 1977 to October 1977 Bread … … … -0.9 8.7 5.7 5.1 16.9 4.9 10.8 Butter … … … 6.4 12.5 20.2 9.7 36.2 17.1 -6.4 Bacon … … … 12.1 5.9 12.6 12.3 3.8 -1.6 5.5 Coal … … … 4.9 20.5 25.2 0.9 20.9 0.3 13.8 Gas … … … 2.2 7.7 9.2 17.7 1.9 9.0 10.7 Electricity … … 26.0 7.0 37.5 1.1 16.8 — 12.7 1968 Sic Steel† … (311, 312) 29.1 16.5 4.2 3.9 25.1 4.3 7.4 Bricks† (461/2) … 17.0 11.2 11.8 4.6 11.9 6.7 10.6 * Based on the Retail Price Index (January 1974 equals 100) (Prices relate to mid-months.) † Based on the output indices of the Wholesale Price Index (1970 equals 100). (Monthly average.) Corresponding information for the other EEC countries for these periods is not readily available.