68.
asked the Minister of Food whether he will decontrol the price of sausages.
No. I am sure that it would be unwise to do this at present. At the same time I have decided to allow certain increases in the present maximum retail prices so as to enable increased costs of production to be met and better quality pork sausages to be made. The minimum meat content of pork sausages will be increased to 65 per cent. which is about pre-war standard; the retail price for these sausages will go up to 1s. 10½d. a lb. There will be no change in the 50 per cent. minimum meat content of beef sausages but, because of the increased costs which I have mentioned, the price will go up by 1d. to 1s. 4d. a lb. I shall be making the necessary order next week. These changes cannot obviously, in themselves, increase the quantity of good quality pork sausages available—this depends on the supply position. In fact there may even be a small reduction, since more meat will now be needed to make the same quantity of sausages.