Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Overseas Assets on 7th December 1988.
Mr. Yeo To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the latest figures for the stock of net overseas assets.
Mr. Major At the end of 1987 the United Kingdom’s net stock of overseas assets was worth £89.5 billion, or 21 per cent. of GDP. These assets generated earnings of £5.5 billion in 1987. The surplus on invisibles in 1986 and 1987 was the largest in the world.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Cash Limits on 6th December 1988.
Mr. Allen To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the difference between his forecast for cash-limited vote expenditure for the first half of 1988-89 and the outturn; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Major Table 1.8 of the Winter Supplementary Estimates (HC 690) shows Departments’ estimates of outturn for cash-limited vote expenditure in the first six months of 1988-89. The table also shows Departments’ forecasts of expenditure in the first six months, prepared earlier in the year.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Public Expenditure on 6th December 1988.
Mr. Butterfill To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current ratio of public expenditure to gross domestic product: and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Major The Autumn Statement gave a forecast of 39.75 per cent. for the ratio of general Government expenditure (excluding privatisation proceeds) to gross domestic product in 1988-89. This ratio has declined from a peak of nearly 47 per cent. in 1982-83 and is now at its lowest level since 1966-67. It is expected to decline further to just under 39 per cent. in 1991-92.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Trade Deficit on 1st December 1988.
Mr. Austin Mitchell To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the trade deficit was financed in 1987 and in the current year to date; and if he will publish in the Official Report, a table showing the changes in the capital account which have occurred as a result of the deficit in the current account.
Mr. Major Figures for the current account, capital account transactions and the balancing item up to the second quarter of 1988 are available in the September edition of Economic Trends, published by the CSO.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Trade Balance on 1st December 1988.
Mr. Andrew Smith To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he estimates that the annual balance of trade will next be in surplus.
Mr. Major The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, which is available in the House of Commons Library, provided forecasts of visible trade for 1988 and 1989. Forecasts for later years are not published.
Ms. Quin To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the current level of interest rates on the prospects for Britain’s balance of trade in manufactured goods.
Mr. Major The rise in interest rates since the summer will act to slow the growth of domestic demand. This will, in time, reduce the growth of manufactured imports and thereby help to improve the balance of trade in manufactured goods.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Domestic Spending on 30th November 1988.
Mr. Meacher To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the percentage rise in total domestic spending each year since 1978, including the estimate for 1988; and what has been the target for each of these years in the medium-term financial strategy.
Mr. Major The growth in total United Kingdom domestic expenditure at current market prices since 1978 was as follows:
Year | Percent change in total domestic expenditure
1978 | 14.6
1979 | 18.1
1980 | 14.9
1981 | 9.6
1982 | 10.1
1983 | 10.3
1984 | 7.8
1985 | 8.1
1986 | 8.8
1987 | 9.1
1988 | 11.4
Source: United Kingdom National Accounts 1988 Edition (table 1.2) CSO except for 1988 which is an estimate [consistent with the forecast published in the autumn statement.]
There are no “targets” for domestic expenditure in the medium term financial strategy.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Embassies (Rating) on 28th November 1988.
Mr. Rooker To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a table showing the number of diplomatic domestic properties, total domestic rateable value, the amount of rates paid by Her Majesty’s Treasury and the amounts paid to Her Majesty’s Treasury by embassies as the beneficial portion for 1988-89 and provide a breakdown of the figures for each rating authority.
Mr. Major I have arranged for a table showing the information requested to be placed in the Library.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s speech to the “Better Made in Britain” Halfords Challenge Day, given on 23rd November 1988.
CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY
I am most grateful for the opportunity to join you today.
It is an ingenious idea to mount an exhibition in which retailers exhibit goods which they currently import but would rather buy in Britain.
We all like to buy British if we can, provided of course, that the design, quality and price are right. That is critical. But if the manufacturers here today are as ingenious as Sir Basil, we all have cause for optimism.
You have called today a Challenge Day. It is precisely that – a challenge to greater competitiveness; a challenge to make products which can win on merit in the market place.
These days the British market place is a tough place to be. The truly outstanding quality of retailing in this country has made British consumers very discerning and demanding. They can’t be fobbed off with second best. Nor should they be. They want high quality, good design, and of course the best price. That is the challenge to UK manufacturers, and those that meet it will thrive.
This challenge is being made directly today by Halfords, the sponsors of this exhibition. I pay tribute to them for the turnaround and remarkable expansion they have achieved since the early 1980s. This has not happened by accident. They have achieved it by paying close attention to the needs of their customers. Their new service centres are the best possible illustration of this. Frankly it is not possible to grow from around 30 stores in 1979 to over 230 today without keeping your customers satisfied. They deserve our congratulations for what they have achieved, and for the cost and effort they have put in to this exhibition.
Today 70% of the goods sold in their shops are UK sourced. By 1992 they want that to be 90% – but only if British manufacturers can convince them they can compete on the trilogy of design, quality and price.
That is what BMIB is all about. To compete you must know what your customer wants. The BMIB exhibitions give very direct feedback. You must know what your competitors are offering. The BMIB regional audit of industry is invaluable here too.
The Government is also playing its part. We are providing the right climate, in which managers can manage, investment is worthwhile, and profits are not just respectable again, but recognised as the main aim of business. And to help British suppliers identify new opportunities at home we legislated in this year’s Finance Bill to enable Customs and Excuse to make available information on the sorts of goods and materials imported by different companies, so manufacturers will be able to approach them to see whether they could compete to replace those imports with British goods.
Competing against imports should be particularly attractive to smaller firms. They are on familiar territory, and face lower marketing and distribution costs. But it has a double bonus. In competing efficiently to substitute for imports they are making themselves more competitive internationally. For some, today’s exhibition may be the first step towards a future success in export markets. I hope that it is.
Not so long ago, it would have seemed very odd that we needed to prove that things could be better made in Britain. We all assumed that British goods were not just better, but the best. Other countries might be able to produce things cheaper, but not better.
The loss of the prestige attached to the “Made in Britain” label was one of the saddest aspects of the 1960s and 1970s. But now we are on the way back with a vengeance. The main reason that consumers first turned to foreign goods was that they were cheaper, then later that they were better. To win these sales back is our challenge today.
And it is a challenge that British firms are rising to. They accept the need to compete and above all recognise the importance of their customers. They know that if they don’t supply the goods that their customers want at a price they are willing to pay, then someone else will. They’ve known that for a long time. The difference today is that there are good reasons for optimism.
British business believes in itself again. It knows that it has a future. It knows it has to become more competitive. And it is doing so. It knows it has to invest. And it is doing so, at record levels. Not just in new machines but in design and reliability too. It knows it has to improve productivity. And it is doing so – faster than any other major country in the world.
To build on this success I believe we need to promote the virtues of British goods more positively. They should succeed or fail on merit and quality, and not fail because of the untrue and unfair parody that British goods are shoddy, and that it is chic to buy foreign. They are not. And it is not. And we should all say so, loudly and clearly, at every opportunity.
There is a long way to go. But our firms have shown what they can do. They have given the lie to those who thought that British manufacturing industry was finished. How wrong that is. The old inefficiencies are going. There is no reason why we should not see British companies again becoming a major force in areas such as motorcycles, machine tools and radio manufacture.
Let us set our sights high. Let us get back to a situation where goods made in Britain are not just better but the best in the world.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Revenue (Liverpool) on 15th November 1988.
Mr. Parry To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of Government revenue has been raised in Liverpool in each of the past five years.
Mr. Major [holding answer 14 November 1988]: I regret that the figures are not available.
Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Public Sector Expenditure on 15th November 1988.
Mr. Ralph Howell To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a table showing the total expenditure and total estimated expenditure on wages, salaries and pensions in the public sector for 1970, 1979, 1984 and 1988; and what percentage of (a) gross domestic product and (b) public expenditure these figures represent.
Mr. Major The latest available information on expenditure on public service pay (including pensions), which is consistent with figures published in the 1988 public expenditure White Paper (Cm. 288), is given in the table. Corresponding figures for years prior to 1982-83 are not readily available on a consistent basis. Although some estimated outturn figures for 1988-89 were published recently in the autumn statement a breakdown of these figures by economic category will not be available until the publication of the 1989 White Paper.
1984–85 outturn | 1988–89 plans
Expenditure on public services pay included in the public expenditure planning total (£ million) 40,944 | 51,885
As a percentage of
(a) General government expenditure (excluding privatisation proceeds) 27 | 27.5
(b) Gross domestic product 12.5 | 11.5