§ Mr. Trotterasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current value of the £ sterling compared with the value at February 1974; and, at the present rate of fall in its value, when it will reach the equivalent of 50p.
§ Mr. Denzil Davies, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 6th April 1978], gave the following information:
As measured by the General Index of Retail Prices, the value of the pound, if put at 100p in February 1974, is estimated at 53p in February 1978. But taking this and other developments into account, for every constant value pound—as measured by real personal disposable income—consumers had in their pockets in the first quarter of 1974, they had £1.04 in the fourth quarter of 1977, and it is likely that the current figure for this quarter will prove slightly higher.
As to what the future may bring, I should warn the hon. Member of the imminence of my right hon. Friend's Budget Statement and of the dangers in extrapolating past trends.