§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will publish in the Official Report his estimate of the effect which the increase of 35 per cent. in the real rate of exchange between sterling and the deutschmark had on United Kingdom imports from the exports to West Germany between the first quarter of 1979 and the third quarter of 1985; what were the nominal rates of exchange in each period; what is the present rate of exchange; and what is his estimate of the difference in the rate of inflation between the United Kingdom and West Germany since the third quarter of 1985.
§ Mr. Alan Clark[pursuant to his reply, 1 May 1986, c. 454–56]: No. Any such estimate would involve many arbitrary assumptions and would thus be highly speculative.
The nominal exchange rate in the first quarter of 1979 was 3.7401 Dm/£; in the third quarter of 1985 3.9197 Dm/£ and in March 1986 3.3254 Dm/£. Between the third quarter of 1985 and February 1986 the United Kingdom retail price index rose by 1.3 per cent. compared with an increase of 0.3 per cent. in the consumer price index for the German Federal Republic.