THE LIBERAL PARTY

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26030, 6 February 1950, Page 7

THE LIBERAL PARTY

Policy Given fa Manifesto

PLANS FOR FULL EMPLOYMENT

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, February 4.

The liberals believe that their party is more likely to unite Britain than either the Conservatives or the Socialists, “locked as those parties are in a class struggle.” This is the primary claim of the British Liberals in their election manifesto, “No Easy Way.”

The manifesto says that the Liberals believe passionately in full employment in a free society, and in the maintenance of social services. They demand that the Government should reduce its own spending drastically. Under full employment work could easily be found for redundant civil servants.

The Liberal manifesto says that food subsidies must be cut and that the Liberals, would help those suffering by the redaction of subsidies by increasing social security benefits. “The government must be taken out of business which can be more efficiently and more economically operated by private traders,” the manifesto says. "All international marketing agencies such as the Liverpool Cotton Exchange should be restored to private enterprise and bulk purchase reduced.” The manifesto says that a Liberal Government would reconcile the interests of workers and employers in both State and private trading. Liberals would also introduce co-partner-ship and profit-sharing into major industrial units. Workers’ Share in Profits “The industrial worker should receive a share of increased profits as a matter of right and not as an act of grace by employers, and, where practicable, the worker should increasingly be associated with the business of management. One immediate concession a Liberal Government would make to benefit production would be to remove the profits tax on undistributed profits used to replace capital equipment ” Emphasising that it opposes nationalisation ‘ i’r-r the sake of nationalisation,” the manifesto says that the Liberals believe that a monopoly where it is not inevitable is objectionable and should be broken up. “If it cannot be broken up it should, if possible. be controlled in the public m-* terest without change of ownership. Only when neither restoration of competition nor control is possible should nationalisation be considered. To this end the Liberals would set up a permanent ‘watchdog’ commission of inquiry into monopoly and restrictive P No minimum price-fixing S allowed unless permitted by the Board ° f With d the ending of monopolies and cartels, inefficient producers and traders would no longer be protected freedom from unnecessary controls and form-filling would be enacted, and the worker would be given freedom from the direction of labour. Ors international trade the manifesto savs- “The protectionist policy of the Conservative and Socialist Parties has handicapped Britain’s international trade ever since a Liberal Goyernmen was last in office. The cognise that the protection of Industry is a naked confession that we cannot meet in our own markets competltion which we must meet abroad or starve.” „ _ Abolition of Tariffs “We would reduce tariffs by until all are abolished,' adds the m of lf d e e s fence. it says: “The Liberals oppose peace-time conscription because it creates inefficiency and denies regular servicemen the pay and the con, ditions to which they are entitled Conscription had weakened the nation's economy and impaired life, ano although Britain spent four times the pre-war amount on tne Army it had far fewer troops ready tO The ht Liberal Government would set up a land bank to provide cheap capital and credit. It would reduce distribution costs by encouraging regional marketing and co-operative machine buying, water . schemes, and the reclamation of marginal land. Rural life could be made more stable, the manifesto claimed, by putting light industries in country towns, and made more attractive with power, water, and transport services A national survey would be made as a preliminary to creating a national water system. . The Liberal Party’s housing policy envisages owner-occupiers, even in council houses and flats. It considers that reforms are necessary in the Rent

Restriction Act and the Town and Country Planning Act to ensure that penalties are not imposed on property improvements and that a good landlord is not forced to let his property deteriorate through rents below an economic, level. . The Liberal Party is pledged to a policy of equal pay for equal work —a principle it would put into tne civil service and the main professions. Emphasis would be put on the pay and conditions of women teachers and nurses. , House of Lords The manifesto says that the Liberals would reform the House of Lords where heredity as a qualification for membership would be abolished, thus making the House open to men and women of distinction. The manifesto says’ social security benefits could be improved. The Liberal Party would revoke the means test on old-age pensioners who wished to go on working. War pensions would be assessed on individual merits instead of service rank. In the Trade Union movement a new charter was needed not only to reform the control machinery but to safeguard the rights of unionists. The manifesto says that the Liberal Party created a Commonwealth out of the Empire, and the Commonwealth and Empire have become the greatest voluntary force for the peace in the world. “We want to strengthen the ties between ourselves and the Dominions with increasingly close consultation on investment policy, migration. and defence”

The Liberal Party warmly supported the granting of independence to India. Pakistan and Ceylon, and looked forward to welcoming new domin-°Self-government should be granted only in the interests of the majority of people concerned. More tnan ever Britain must establish herself in colonial eyes as the trustee of a family business to which they will soon be admitted into equal partnership. The United Nations must be kept in being. Its Security Council offered the only machinery through which the development of the hydrogen bomb and pother horrors of science could be Con- ; trolled.

The manifesto says that the Liberal Party will press for quicker development of the Council of Europe. European currencies should be made convertible with one another this year, and trade restrictions removed. Western Germany should soon be invited into the Council of Europe to persuade the Germans that their only hope lay in association with the liberal world.