The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1966. Mr Wilson Ends The Guessing

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30998, 2 March 1966, Page 16

The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1966. Mr Wilson Ends The Guessing

Doubts which have been hovering over the British political scene in recent months have been lifted by Mr Wilson’s decision to hold a General Election on March 31. For 16 months his Government has. in effect, been on trial. Now the electorate must decide whether it really wants to “ buy ” a Labour Government. Mr Wilson may have preferred to give a fuller demonstration of what his team could do—with its incomes policy, immigration curbs, another budget. Rhodesia, with its encouragement to industry and exports, and with defence planning. This would have involved risking unfavourable reactions in many quarters, although they might have proved temporary'. Electors have enough to go on. If they give the Labour Party a more secure majority in the House of Commons they will do so with a fair knowledge of what to expect. They do not know what pressures the Left wing of the party will put on Mr Wilson if Labour’s hold becomes surer; nor do trade unionists know how far the Government will go in pursuing its incomes policy which is inconsistent with wage increases not matched by increases in productivity. In both these departments Mr Wilson has carefully avoided a showdown. Although recent by-election results point to a Labour victory with an increased majority, the British electorate has been extraordinarily volatile over the last three or four years. Even in the last few months political popularity polls have shown disconcerting fluctuations in the support for the two main parties. Mr Heath has not yet struck form as the Conservatives’ leader: his opportunities to do so before the election are now strictly limited. The votes of the 3 million electors who voted for Liberal candidates ir. 1964 could be critical. The Labour Party won the last General Election without adding noticeably to the number of its supporters. It won because the Conservative Party lost nearly 1.5 million votes to Liberal candidates and because many Conservatives did not vote at all. Mr Wilson needs more than a mandate by default and he needs more supporters in the Commons to press on with his programme. He is obviously confident that now is the time to get them.