Part of Oral Answers to Questions — National Finance – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 April 1970.
The answer is a little more sophisticated than that. We all recognised that in conditions of consumer restraint it was likely that savings would fall. In any case, there has been very sharp competition from other institutions which receive savings, and some of this flow has been desirable. There are fluctuations from year to year. But, for example, in 1951–54 there was a fall of over £130 million.