asked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity what criteria it is proposed to apply to wage increases taking effect after the end of 1970.

A decision on incomes policy after the end of 1969 has not been taken. I have asked the T.U.C., the C.B.I. and also the N.B.P.I. to join in a study of what incomes policy should be after the expiry of the current legislation.

If, for example, pay increases for women workers, phased over a seven-year period to bring about equal pay, are entered into now what guarantee can the right hon. Lady give us that employers will not be forced to repudiate the promises in perhaps 1971?

Obviously if a phased programme for the introduction of equal pay was negotiated and agreed by the Government, they would not ask the employer to repudiate such a programme.