§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the reference to 1978 and 1980 in the penultimate sentence of paragraph 6 of the Treasury press notice of 24 November summarising the economic forecast included, in each case, the whole of the calendar year; whether the percentage used was meant to imply that relative prices had risen by 80 to 100 per cent. since the calendar year 1978; what was the measure of competitiveness used in this case; and whether he will circulate in the Official Report a table showing the index figures which lay behind the calculation together with the corresponding figures for (a) other measures of 584W competitiveness over the chosen period, (b) all measures of competitiveness over the periods from the fourth quarter of 1976, May 1979 and 1 January 1980 to November 1980 and (c) the corresponding figures for relative normal unit labour costs.
§ Mr. LawsonI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 19 December 1980.—[Vol. 996, c.470–7.] The assessment of the change in competitiveness from 1978 to 1980 was based on a measure of relative normalised unit labour costs; typically relative export prices have moved by rather smaller amounts than relative costs. Details of recent movements in relative export prices, and a number of other measures of competitiveness, including the IMF's index of relative normalised unit labour costs, are published regularly in Economic Trends.