Mr Major’s Comments on Inflation – 12 February 1993

Below is the text of Mr Major’s comments on inflation, made on Friday 12th February 1993.

QUESTION

[The Prime Minister was asked about falling inflation]

PRIME MINISTER:

I think most people are surprised by the progress we’ve made on inflation. I feel very strongly about inflation. It’s very fashionable to say hasn’t there been a heavy price paid to get inflation down. I think that’s the wrong question. The question that should be asked would have been, how bad would it have been and for how long if we hadn’t taken action to get inflation down. But it is only two and a bit years ago that we had inflation pushing eleven per cent and a very real fear that it would rise and both in the short term and the long term it’s necessary for the United Kingdom to kill the inflationary psychology that has damaged our economy over the last forty years.

Time and time again we’ve sprung out of growth into inflation and then into a sharp downturn and I am determined that we will get inflation down to a low bracket and keep it down. It won’t get down to nil and stay to nil, it won’t stay absolutely stable and calm, the economy’s a mobile, living thing but I think you can keep it within very narrow confines and I believe it is important to do so. Important socially, but I think it is also important in terms of international competitiveness as well. We need to have an inflation rate at least as good as our principal competitors if we are to maximise our growth prospects. So they were satisfactory figures today.