§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what effect would be caused to his economic strategy for 1978–79 by an increase in local authority expenditure of 16 per cent.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettI am not sure what the hon. Member has in mind. Table 5 of Volume 1 of the Public Expenditure 359W White Paper (Cmnd 7049) shows that total public expenditure by local authorities in Great Britain at 1977 Survey prices is planned to increase by 2.1 per cent. in 1978–79 compared with the estimated out-turn in 1977–78. An increase of 16 per cent. would mean that expenditure would be £2,070 million above the planned total. The effects of this hypothetical increase would obviously be far reaching.