If this should be proved wrong, he suggested there might be a Sterling Crisis towards the end of the summer … The inflationary possibilities of the Budget will not be lost on the industrial share market and they cannot be ignored for long by the gilt-edged market, for if consumption should get out of hand (or rather increases to the detriment of the export trade) either another Budget may be needed or a higher Bank Rate.

I think that the Sterling Crisis was caused by what occurred at the Paris conference as muchas anything; and the Chancellor had to rectify the situation at Istanbul, when he did give a definite statement to the world.

If the Chancellor will continue to dissipate our reserves at the behest of the out-dated "Suez group" at the Treasury and the Bank of England then, of course, he will find himself beset from time to time by a selling Crisis of Sterling for which he has not the reserves.

The second main reason for our disagreeing with him is that we think that he is wrong about the nature of the Sterling Crisis this summer.

It is precisely in such a Crisis of Sterling that the directors in Hong Kong want to know what Mr. Keswick - who has the feel of the London market - thinks is the right action to take, and in that situation he is compelled to resolve the conflict in such a way that he is unable to give advice.

I do not say that because I necessarily think that that there will be a Sterling Crisis by then, but because this would enable those who are responsible for world liquidity to grapple with the diminution of world trade, which is the over-riding problem on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Therefore, the Chancellor wants to restrict wage advances to the levels of productivity while the President of the Board of Trade thinks that increased productivity will bring a Sterling Crisis.

Apart from whether the Minister will be prepared to say that he made a mistake and whether he will be prepared to stand up and say, "As a result of the policy of this Government, we have had serious industrial trouble, a Sterling Crisis and a sharp rise in prices and, therefore, we have to recast our Estimate", there will be countless instances where the Government ought to vary their expenditure from year to year and not commit themselves to an expenditure of at least two years ahead.

It is certain that Britain cannot help the underdeveloped countries if her imports from the dollar or the mark areas or from the franc zone are allowed to rise to the point where either Commonwealth production is depressed or where we face a Sterling Crisis.

Under the conditions of our economy inflation shows itself in the Sterling Crisis or a balance of payments crisis, which is much the same thing.

It is absolute piffle and it is disgraceful that the right hon. Gentleman - the Chancellor of the Exchequer until a month ago - should treat the House to bunkum of this kind and suggest that the Sterling Crisis is due to the presentation of figures perfectly accurately known to him and everyone else concerned in the matter.

Why is there this Crisis in Sterling?

As to the Sterling Crisis, as the Prime Minister's speech in November showed clearly, the cause was the complete and sudden collapse of confidence at home and abroad in the ability of this Government to govern once people had seen what they were doing and how they were doing it.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in view of the statement by the Governor of the Bank of England that a marked cut in public expenditure was necessary to prevent Another Sterling Crisis, and that civil estimates have risen from £4,304 million to £7,388 million in the last 10 years, if he will appoint an independent committee to investigate and recommend where cuts could be made; and if he will make a statement.

As the recent economic statistics confirm the Prime Minister's own speech on 23rd November, when he proved that the Sterling Crisis resulted from collapse of confidence in the party opposite and not from the trade position, will he take it that the more statistics like that which he publishes, the better we shall be pleased?

The conditions that the Government took over included a trade deficit of £745 million, a rapidly worsening Sterling Crisis and sure signs that the country's internal economy was becoming overstrained.

In fact, the latest Bank of England returns indicated that up to December last year £570 million had been drawn from the credits allocated by the International Monetary Fund and also foreign central banks to meet the Crisis of Sterling.

Twice in the Chancellor's presence he said that there would have to be a marked cut in public expenditure to prevent Another Sterling Crisis.

It does bring a return in exports as well as in interest, but the point to remember is that we must deal with an Immediate Sterling Crisis.

They say that the Crisis of Sterling was a crisis of confidence due to the line taken by the Prime Minister, and that throughout the conduct of the nation's affairs the Tories had led a blameless life.

what securities were in the portfolio; what was their cost; what is their present value; if he intends to repurchase them when the Sterling Crisis is over; and if he will make a statement.

All the attention of their economic Ministers and civil servants should have been devoted to dealing with the Sterling Crisis.

We saw in the recent Crisis in Sterling that the world's monetary system worked surprisingly effectively, speedily and quickly, with the International Monetary Fund playing its part, but certainly with the central bankers playing a very considerable and speedy part in solving the problem.

Comments of this sort come very ill from the right hon. Gentleman, who on three occasions has caused a Crisis in Sterling by his own irresponsible remarks.

If the Chancellor's difficulties in face of the Current Sterling Crisis were to be dramatically eased by doing so absurd a thing as this, one might accept that as an argument.

It also made the important point that the recovery process of the Sterling Crisis would be a long one and that it would be several years before Britain's debts were repaid.

When the management announced the short-time working this year, they placed blame upon the Government's steps to control and deal with the Sterling Crisis.

The first is the Sterling Crisis; the second, the trade deficit; and the third, the question of future growth.

I am quite sure that it is not in the world as we know it, and that is why Professor Day, who is not at all an unfriendly critic of the Government, said this in the Observer of 19th September, 1965:The chances are that this is a plan which will be more successful in creating Another Sterling Crisis in 1967–8 than in creating more prosperity in 1970 than we should enjoy anyway.

They had started a Sterling Crisis.

Was my right hon. Friend's attention drawn to the passage of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's interview in which he said that if it were not for the great defence burden we would never have had a Sterling Crisis and that if that burden were not still so heavy the balance of payments deficit would already have been covered?

The Present Sterling Crisis has been different from any other since the war for the reason that it has lasted so much longer.

Before the last Sterling Crisis up to £500 million had been invested by non-residents from abroad in our public works.

He must have known that it was a pretty high proportion, because he must have observed the effect of the massive withdrawal of funds during the months of the Sterling Crisis.

I am not denying that there was a Sterling Crisis in 1957.

All this action was used as the Government's reply to the Sterling Crisis, but it was a"phoney"reply.

Confidence in the right hon. Gentleman and this Administration has been shattered abroad- yet here the Government are deliberately introducing, at a time of Sterling Crisis, a Bill which is widely regarded as completely irrelevant to the economic problems of the country.

Ever since I can remember, and certainly ever since the party opposite has been in office, nearly every person in the country has, in spite of a mounting Sterling Crisis, improved his standard of living.

My first conclusion is that there is nothing surprising about This Sterling Crisis, nothing unexpected, nothing unforetold.

To me, these brief quotations summarise the Present Sterling Crisis and put the tape measure round it.

Just as the Sterling Crisis which has caused such grave anxiety in the House and in the country has been a crisis of confidence, so the same token of confidence, or lack of it, must characterise regional development.

Some of the courses that the Government are following mean that there may be another early Crisis of Sterling.

According to Der Spiegel a year ago, he said to that magazine,There would not have been a Sterling Crisis if we had not had to bear so much of the burden of defence abroad We would have restored our balance of payments if we had not had to bear this heavy load.

We therefore ask how we can get back to capacity growth without bumping up against the balance-of-payments problem right away, without being back in a Sterling Crisis.

But as we have had a Sterling Crisis in five successive years under three successive Governments, does not this seem to indicate some lack of forward planning in the Treasury?

After all, the Tories had six years after that to implement the sort of policies he finally adumbrated and they left behind a Sterling Crisis of monumental proportions.

My right hon. Friend said that it was not serious when compared with other forms of Government expenditure, but if we look at the rise in this expenditure over the last 30 years, and this was evidenced in one of the bank reviews by a very good analysis of the Sterling Crisis - in October, before devaluation - we see that we were minus £18 million gross expenditure on Government account in 1938, but that by 1964–66 it had reached over £450 million - greater than the annual balance of payments deficit.

The Sterling Crisis is a crisis of confidence.

The Sterling Crisis started in November, 1964.

There followed a massive upward surge of imports early in 1967 and this was a major factor causing the Sterling Crisis of that year.

There was a Sterling Crisis, there was an emergency Budget, and there were two extra Bank holidays.

Mr. Duffy asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the public speech he made to the European Institute of Business Administration in the City of London on 27th June, 1972, on the Sterling Crisis.

asked the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the public speech he made to the European Institute of Business Administration in the City of London on 27th June, 1972, on the Sterling Crisis.

Since the next move will certainly be a Sterling Crisis, as soon as the dollar recovers, may we be told how this will be preceded by some new demonstration of the Government's hysterical euphoria?

Will he accept that our ability to borrow and, therefore, our chances of averting a Sterling Crisis have so far been entirely due to the promise of North Sea oil and that confidence in that is now ebbing?

The Chancellor also imperilled our chances of economic recovery by taking a confused position over the past few days on the Sterling Crisis.

The Sterling Crisis proves this clearly.

Perhaps Ministers feel a little depressed by the Recent Sterling Crisis - the Minister of State is probably trying to look cheerful, although he must feel some depression - but the Government have a tremendous asset in the ineffectiveness of the Opposition.

Perhaps Ministers feel a little depressed by the recent Sterling Crisis - the Minister of State is probably trying to look cheerful, although he must feel some depression - but the Government have a tremendous asset in the ineffectiveness of the Opposition.

The idea that the restoration or support of grammar schools will have an effect in the Present Sterling Crisis must be equally absurd.

The right hon. Gentleman went back to some of the problems during our time, but the Sterling Crisis that we have now is nothing to do with the problem of our time two and a half years ago.

They have no control over the Sterling Crisis, obviously.

I am sure that he is not in the same position as the right hon. Member for Huyton (Sir H. Wilson) who said that he had not anticipated the Sterling Crisis.

In view of the stress which my right hon. Friend has rightly put on the fall in the value of sterling accounting for price increases, may I ask whether he is satisfied that the public are aware of the impact of the Sterling Crisis upon prices?

Will my hon. Friend indicate what level of subsidy would have been required of the Government had they tried to protect consumers against increases in food prices since the Sterling Crisis of last autumn?

In the end it was the fear of a Sterling Crisis, a plunge in the reserves, and a plummet in the exchange rate that made the Chancellor act.

At that stage we had the Sterling Crisis, and, although the Chancellor of the Duchy had given a clear assurance that bank nationalisation was off, it seemed that as the pound dropped enthusiasm in the Labour Party for nationalisation increased.

During the Sterling Crisis of 1976, the last Government stopped the use of sterling to finance third country trade.

Money will flood out of the country the first time that the Government face a Major Sterling Crisis.

I am sure that the hon. Member remembered the Sterling Crisis which forced the right hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey)back from London airport when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

As prices fell away, yields emerged that have not been seen since the Sterling Crisis of 1976.

Accepting the Prime Minister's preoccupation today with the Sterling Crisis, will she take time to reconsider the war of attrition against the miners?

About an hour and half ago the Prime Minister changed tack again and tried to brush the problem aside, saying that this was not a Sterling Crisis but a crisis for all currencies and a crisis from which all countries similarly suffered.

I wish not to talk about the Sterling Crisis or economic policy, but to register the despair and despondency felt by thousands of my unemployed constituents.

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that never in her term of office has she had to cause her car to make a U-turn at Heathrow airport, following the example of the right hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey) during the Sterling Crisis?

What is the truth about the so-called Sterling Crisis?

The Government's inflation record is the statistical success that the Prime Minister describes, but prices have been held down by depressing the economy, by the intentional creation of unemployment, by the abandonment of regional aid, by the assault on local authority spending, by the destruction of the public sector building programme, by first allowing exchange rates to rise absurdly to a point where they prejudiced exports and then allowing them to collapse to the point where it was necessary to impose a massive increase in interest rates to prevent a Major Sterling Crisis.

While the Government face Their Sterling Crisis, their argument about the relative costs of imported coal and home-produced coal is turned on its head.

There is bound to be a suspicion that the recently announced orders in certain merchant and warship yardsare only a reprieve, and that it is the Government's intention to buy some time and buy off extra trouble while the Sterling Crisis and the miners' strike are under way.

There are those who ask how it is possible to talk in such terms during a Sterling Crisis.

The failure of those policies, coupled with the strength of the dollar, led to the Recent Sterling Crisis and the runs on the pound.

There is no doubt that high interest rates can only mean further regression as investment plans are dumped as a result of the Government's bungling over the Sterling Crisis.

Even if there is no further increase on Thursday, Friday or next week, the one fact of the mortgage increase, which was the direct result of the Chancellor's mishandling of the Sterling Crisis and the increased interest rates that followed, will virtually wipe out the average reduction in income tax.

He has further boxed himself in through his mismanagement of the Sterling Crisis.

The current balance of payments might as a result move into deficit, but in a minor way we could follow the example of the Americans and attract enough foreign capital to prevent a Sterling Crisis.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has told us that he believes that last January's Sterling Crisis was precipitated by the publication of the so-called fiscal adjustment.

It is followed each January by a Sterling Crisis and record high interest rates.

I think that the right hon. Gentleman had been rather thrown by the mismanagement of the Sterling Crisis in January of last year, and the bombast was a little more to the fore when he proclaimed that it was a Budget for jobs, which it manifestly was not, whatever else it was.

In place of firm sterling we have a feeble sterling strategy which periodically results in a Sterling Crisis.

The Chancellor has one last shot in his locker, if he is to ward off nemesis in the form of a Sterling Crisis, or a balance of payments crisis, or the blowing up of the consumer boom.

Is it not perfectly obvious that if the Chief Secretary was brave enough to be honest with us he would admit that the only reason why we have real interest rates twice as high as Germany is that that is now the Chancellor's only means of warding off a Sterling Crisis?

The right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr.Hattersley) constantly goes on record as saying that Britain is heading for a Sterling Crisis - almost as though he is willing one.

The Labour party tries hard to conjure up the spectre of a Sterling Crisis.

I thought it was only a few months ago that the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) was predicting a Sterling Crisis because the value of the pound might fall.

If that policy does not work, foreigners will see the real state of health of the economy - that is how weak it is -and we shall have a Sterling Crisis by the end of the year,which will mean astronomical interest rates to defend the pound.

even within the forecast that he has given, with a balance of payments deficit which will not go down significantly so far as the eye can see, with the risk of a 828 Sterling Crisis and with the money supply not within the target range?

I believe that there will be a much larger trade deficit than the Chancellor predicts, that there will be lower output growth than he hopes for and that all this could actually take us to a Sterling Crisis.

The paradox is that Opposition Members and others declare simultaneously that the balance of payments deficit will lead to a Sterling Crisis, by which I assume they mean that the value of sterling will fall, not rise.

The rise in the exchange rate, which results from the high interest rates, is considered a good thing because it encourages foreigners to lend us money to finance our trade deficit, thus forestalling a Sterling Crisis in the short term, such as we have seen previously.

A combination of our strong net capital position and high interest rates has enabled us to avoid the kind of Sterling Crisis that we knew in the 1970s.

As numerous commentators have pointed out, there must be a real danger of a Sterling Crisis at some point in the not too distant future with all the attendant inflationary problems and a crisis of confidence.

We now have to face two years hard - and perhaps that is the easiest way out, because we are dithering on the brink of a Sterling Crisis and at any moment there could be a massive and sustained run on the pound.

To fix the sterling rate in these circumstances would push us into recession, cause unemployment to grow, destroy growth, make the payments deficit endemic, and lead to a Sterling Crisis.

The measures needed - whether we had decided to take them or whether they were forced on us by the international community and our creditors through a Sterling Crisis, as happened in 1975 and 1976 - would have been even more savage, and the recession would have been deeper than the present recession.

The Prime Minister: If there were to be a Sterling Crisis, it would occur only if there were no longer a Conservative Government.

If there were to be a Sterling Crisis, it would occur only if there were no longer a Conservative Government.

Pressure on the pound then leads to a Sterling Crisis which blows the pound out of its unrealistic ERM parity - but only after great damage has been caused to British industry.

Other issues took precedence - a railway strike, a strike at ITV, the Sterling Crisis, record inflation under a Labour Government and even the Bay City Rollers.

If what the hon. Gentleman says about the Labour Government at that time is correct, perhaps that would explain why there was a Sterling Crisis under that Government which forced them to devalue.

In October 1990, the great imperative was to reduce interest rates because of the growing recession without causing a Serious Sterling Crisis and a run on the pound.

The Labour party will hereinafter be known as the party of monetary responsibility; the party that, when the Sterling Crisis was at its height, stood to attention and sang "Land of Hope and Glory" before declaring that never again would the pound in our pockets be devalued; the party that, in the pitiless pursuit of political virility, put that before intellectual integrity - perhaps the least valuable currency in politics, even less valuable than the pound.

To reminisce, I was Parliamentary Private Secretary to George Brown in 1964 and during the first Sterling Crisis I witnessed the half-hourly telephone calls between George Brown and the Bank of England, stating that so many hundreds of millions of pounds had gone.

When I first came to this place in the autumn of 1964, the Labour party came to power, and within a few weeks we were in the middle of a Major Sterling Crisis.

A Sterling Crisis when sterling goes up can be just as harmful, if not more harmful, to British industry.

Those are exactly the businesses that are suffering badly and will continue to do so as we increasingly approach a Sterling Crisis for which the Government must take responsibility.

The second reason for the change is that every Labour Government have produced a Sterling Crisis leading to the devaluation of the pound: 1931, 1949, 1967 and 1976.

there is only a Sterling Crisis.

As the Prime Minister is presiding over severe damage to the UK manufacturing base with the consequent harm to jobs, will he take the announcement of the welcome merger of the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges as an opportunity to give a clear signal of positive measures that he will take to bring the Sterling Crisis under control?

He said that Britain does not enjoy a strong pound, but my understanding is that the Conservative party has been talking about a Sterling Crisis because of the strong pound.

To avoid repeating myself, perhaps one could categorise this Pre-Budget Statement as being based on the principle of "steady as she goes" - a principle that I believe was first enunciated publicly by James Callaghan while serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1966 immediately before the Sterling Crisis.

It is worth reminding ourselves of what the Prime Minister said when he was the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and was commenting on the last Sterling Crisis in 1992.

As the Government rebuild public finances, it is going to be very important to impress on the markets our determination to do so, but I feel very strongly that if we do not take the necessary action and confidence then dissipates, we could be facing a Sterling Crisis, rising interest rates and perhaps a gilt issuance strike as well.

In particular, he is not listening to the people whose assessments really matter, such as Sir Martin Sorrell, who says: "If Labour win we may well have a Sterling Crisis".

We know that we are in a fragile situation and that if we talk ourselves down like this we can help precipitate a Sterling Crisis and deter inward investment.

It could cause a Sterling Crisis.

The Labour leadership's chief adviser on the economy has said that it would cause a Sterling Crisis, but that the “sterling crisis would pass very quickly”.

In our economy we are close to a record current account deficit and some say that if we left, a Sterling Crisis would be inevitable.