CAB129-45 — Page 566

Page 566 426

Printed for the Cabinet. May 1951

SECRET

C.P. (51) 149

29th May, 1951

CABINET

Copy No.

31

RESALE PRICE MAINTENANCE

MEMORANDUM BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE

After considering a memorandum (C.P. (51) 37) submitted jointly by my pre- decessor and the Minister of Local Government and Planning, the Cabinet at their meeting on 15th February (C.M. (51) 14th Conclusions, Minute 6):-

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(1) Approved in principle the proposals in C.P. (51) 37 for prohibiting collective measures to enforce resale price maintenance and the indication of resale prices by individual suppliers.

(2) Agreed that the practicability of introducing a provision declaring discrimi- nation in the supply of goods to be unlawful and providing for civil remedies should be further explored.

(3) Invited the President of the Board of Trade to submit to the Cabinet at an early date the draft of a White Paper explaining the Government's policy in regard to resale price maintenance."

2. I now submit for the consideration of my colleagues the attached draft of the White Paper. In this memorandum I should like to draw attention to the main points of presentation and substance arising on the draft White Paper and to ask my colleagues, after considering these points, to approve the draft for presentation to Parliament as soon as possible.

Presentation

3. The draft White Paper has been prepared in three sections. The first describes the practice and sets out the Government's objections to it; the second answers in advance some of the arguments commonly used in its defence; and the third summarises the recent history of the subject and expounds our proposals. Three points of presentation seem to me worth considering; they mainly concern the first part of the draft. These are as follows:-

(a) There has been discussion about a more " emotive" name for the practice.

Should such a name be invented now and written into the draft? (b) Should the tone of the draft generally be popularised? (c) Subject to what I say in the last paragraph, is the emphasis in the exposition about right as between the economic reasons for abolition (the hope of price reductions through increased competition, the possible effect on the cost of living and so forth) and the reasons based on dislike of extra- legal collective sanctions? Or should more stress be laid on one or other of these?

4. A New Name.-On consideration I think it would be better not to introduce a new name for the practice in the White Paper. I agree that a more emotive formula would be valuable but it would, perhaps, be better as a weapon for campaigning in the country than in a White Paper, which is conventionally intended to form a basis for Parliamentary discussion. In this connexion I should add that I do not think the suggestion of "retail price rigging" for the new name would do. The trouble with resale price maintenance" is that it is not sufficiently explanatory but “petail prefigging," while certainly emotive, gives no better adea50f6what the

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B

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