BROADCAST BY MR EDEN

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26032, 8 February 1950, Page 5

BROADCAST BY MR EDEN

BRITAIN’S TASKS IN THE WORLD

NEED SEEN FOR STRENGTH AT HOME

.LONDON. February 6. The deputy-leader of the British Conservative Party (Mr Anthony Eden), in a broadcast election talk tonight, said that nothing concerned Britain more intimately than the preservation of peace. Mr Eden continued: “The SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations (Mr Trygve Lie) has warned in the last few weeks that the authority of the United Nations is at its lowest ebb. That is grave news, and we are \ all deeply anxious for the future. There can be no true sense of confidence and no lasting peace in the w’orld until nations respect and observe the standards of international conduct with one another.” If Britain were to be respected and influential abroad, she must be strong at home, not only in military power but in the character and purpose of her people. Britain’s hope for the future, said Mr Eden, could only lie in her position as the heart of a free Commonwealth and Empire, and as a nation that could serve the world by the diversity and quality of the services it rendered. Discussing the “grave economic difficulties” facing Britain, Mr Eden warned that the danger of unemployment was not far ahead. The time when it was possible to sell British goods almost anywhere in the world, regardless of price, had already Come to an end. f “German and Japanese competition is reappearing, and before long it will not be a question of trying to find a market for goods; it will, be a question of how to obtain the food and raw materials needed to keep the people healthy and industries at work,” said Mr Eden. “The only way to meet the situation is to produce goods and sell them at competitive prides in the world’s markets, especially the dollar market,?.” Criticising the socialist policy of the Labour Party, Mr Eden said that the party, having made a beginning, rushed on from nationalising one industry to nationalise the next, heedless of their fate and of that of the taxpayers. “We want to see all forms of taxation reduced.” Mr Eden added. “Only too often now, the payment of overtime means an increase irt the taxation rate. There must be some relief so that extra effort wins a fair reward. Government spending must be reduced. It is more than three times the Government spending before the war yet the country is poorer.”