CENSURE MOTION IN COMMONS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24743, 7 December 1945, Page 5

CENSURE MOTION IN COMMONS

Opposition's Case Against Labour

"LABYRINTHINE CONTROLS" (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, December 5. The Government's object seemed to *e to keep industry in a sort of Whitehall twilight rather than to get it going, said Mr Oliver Lyttelton, in moving the Opposition's vote of censure in the House of Commons. He added that all attempts to get the country on its feet, its trade moving, and its energies revived, were being stifled by labyrinthine controls and regulations. What was wanted was the will and impulse to release the imprisoned energy of the people. The main controls were directed at prevents industry from doing things. The rate of release from the forces was about half comparable with the United States figures, because of the palsied way in which the Government was handling demobilisation. The contribution by the Government to housing was very characteristic, said Mr Lyttelton. It had been all words and no houses.

The crying necessity to re-establish some standard of consumption to fill the shops with goods and restore some choice to the consumers was not being met. The main weapons in the Government armoury to- shackle industry included- the. control of raw materials, building priorities, capital" issues, foreign exchange, the export licensing system, and schemes for the nationalisation of all services upon which industry relied.

.u^ 1 "^" 61 * 0 " expressed the opinion that the control and allocation oMa- & SiSJ, 861 * a , sha »n- He asserted that 2,000,000 people were at present working on the manufacture of munitions which, when produced, would be as obsolete as the blunderbuss

Demobilisation • Referring to the slowness of demobilisation, Mr Lyttelton said that the shortage of labour was the principal impediment to industrial recovery He thought that there were many others hardly less serious.. The present Chancellor of the Exchequer (Dr. Hugh Dalton), before the elections, had said that there would be more clothes in this rationing period, yet the present president of the Board of Trade (Sir Stafford Cripps), as soon as he assumed office, slashed coupons from 48

Mr Lyttelton said that he viewed with great anxiety the tendency for men in many industries to break away from the guidance of the trade £ m S2 S - il challenge the Government to deny that the Control of Engagef'™*?, 0 * is a dismal failure and that the Essential Works Order cannot and is-not being enforced." t *J? f . e / ri ng to the national finances, Mr f y« e lton said that the total budget for 1945-46 was a little over £5,500,000,000. which was more than seven h!£! s - a s„,€ rea X as the ' tota l national debt in 1913. About two-thirds of 1945w »£ uld r.£ ave , been P in peace jPwnnS»n : nn ancell iS r u said that a mere ±,220,000,000 would be saved. This was a scandal.

Liberal's View n/r t C .v f; Davi es (Liberal) said that Mr Lyttelton's speech was an indictment, not of the Government, but of Mr Lyttelton and. the previous Government The Government were the heirs, not only to the conditions created by the six xears of war, but also the neirs to the conditions created be 20 yea" of neglect. (Government cheers.) Mr Davies suggested instead of. a ™ l ? d by * the finest br ain* Britain. could produce. Reorganisation of the civil service was also essential if the Government's schemes were to be sucrC^n£L^He J v £ as .J ieither exhilarated t?«n fn g h tened by the word nationalisaL uon. It was a matter of applying the best methods of solving partkular problems. That was how the Liberal Party approached the matter. Reply by Cripps ,„=e r t ir tafford , Cripps declared that it was the simplest thing in the world to suggest to people who had eritfured six years of war and suffering that there were plenty of goods and that &P WOUld be easil y available to STo n« re U not . f P r the wickedness H»^wSM?°? n i that wit hheld them. He added that that sort of irrespon?t ifnm- VoC il? cy of a policy of Plenty at home, when it was a fact that there was a world-wide shortage of- everv kind of commodity, might he excusable on the part of persons ignorant of the world s economic situation, but it was U?h« C^f2K e « fl i om re ?Ponsible persons who ought to know the situation Sir Stafford Cripps said that all na-tionally-minded industrialists and politicians of all parties agreed that Brit"neentrate on her export trade The Government intended to do iv«? hJSIU O^ export markets, fhf v. thc *Sh this might mean keeping pi t d markets t0 some extent de-

Britain at present had reached the 1938 volume of goods. Nevertheless, there, were five times as many men working for the home market as fot export. There had been a rapid winding up of munitions contracts. It was inevitable that pockets of unemployed snouid appear - in certain parts of the country. c

Sir Stafford Cripps added that preparations were being made for.retooling and rearranging factories which would produce goods in the New Year or the spring. He declared that they WnrJS? k * nece , ssai T goods rather than luxuries. Therefore, some control must be used as long as the world shortage

t™i^ e do 1 0t desi re control for control s sake, but we consider that some degree of planning is essential in the national life," he said. The Government did not seek a rigid plan, but one which would give the effect without the extremities of compulsion The Government would stimulate and assist nf l i£ h n;i« dUS L ry t( l- r l ach a hj ß h Point of efficiency, by which it would supply its own people with high quality goods lbro r a°d aS ° n prices ' and also sell

Cripps and Churchill Clash c« »j"£ . verba l duel between Sir Stafford Cripps and Mr Churchill enlivened the debate. Sir Stafford Cripps < referred to Mr Churchill's speech to 98 e in°^hf V K atl n 7 %L rty on November 28, in which Mr Churchill" described the working parties [the tripartite committees set up to investigate and report on industries] as a plan foputting Socialist nominees in to interfere with industry. Sir Stafford Cripps invited Mr Churchill to tell to whom he referred as Socialist nominees. Mr Churchill replied: I will reserve my. reply " Sir Stafford Cripps: I rather thought you would choose that way out Because I know you haven't the facts. t ,^ a < n ?' b ? dy reading that speech would think you meant to suggest that they were the Socialist Govlrnmenrl political nominees. . Further spirited exchanges occurred mit W W Mr-Churchill refused to admit that he was disclaiming his previous allegations. v k^'^'H 0 " 1 Cripps, when the asides had died down, resumed: "Now I mav Point out what the facts are " Mr K X ade his fiß , al interruption: argumen#* get ° n with th *

After the exchanges, lone DenriiioH notes were passed "the House ChuTchill. Staff ° rd CI " ] ' PPS and *»

Tw2l«" S J ewa ?ll Trial Postponed— The Recorder of the Old Bailey agreed to-day to a postponement of the trial! of Norman Baillie-Stewart to the next session in January, as a result of the defence s application for more time in which to study documents and make further investigations into BaillieStewart's nationality at the relevant period.—London, December 5.