ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26031, 7 February 1950, Page 5

ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN BRITAIN

“Party Issues Becoming Sharply Defined” PRESS ANALYSES OF RIVAL PROGRAMMES (N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, February 6. “Now that the British election campaign is in full swing, the issues on which the parties are seeking the people’s decision are becoming sharply defined," says the political correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” .

“Both the Conservatives and the Liberals emphasise three points: (1) high Government expenditure and taxation; (2) the cost of living; and (3) a stop to nationalisation. “The Socialists continue to stress full employment, claiming that their policy of a controlled economy is the only means of maintaining it. Little emphasis is placed on nationalisation, past or future. They also see the cost of living as a major issue, but they point to food subsidies as a means of controlling it. They submit their proposals for the public ownership of such industries as meat wholesaling, sugar, and markets as ways of reducing it. “The Conservatives say that full employment depends on exports, which cannot be sold abroad if nationalisation measures increase production costs, and high taxation destroys incentive. Only the Liberals, in their manifesto, propose the abolition of conscription.”

“The Times” says: “The election campaign has begun quietly. By now, the tactics of all parties can be seen. The Liberals’ purpose seems to be to amass as large a popular vote as possible up and down the country, with only distant regard to their chances of winning seats. “The Conservative attitude to the Liberal Party is already a leading

theme in the election. The aim is evidently to cut out and capture Liberal voters by blunt words to their socalled Left-wing leaders. “The Labour Party starts the campaign on the defensive, and the main thrusts of the Conservative attack are against the past record of the Labour Government and the future threat of socialism.”