Anxiety in U.K. about inflation

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 17

Anxiety in U.K. about inflation

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, November 20. Conservative Parliamentarians, alarmed about Britain’s accelerating inflation, met privately last night to discuss its cause andcure.

The meeting reflected continuing anxiety over a wages boom that has brought conflicting opinions from Government followers on the gravity of the economic situation. The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham), speaking earlier in the House of Lords, likened the present inflationary trends to the kind of sick-

ness that brought down Germany’s Weimar Republic in the inter-war period and felled France’s Fourth Republic after the Second World War. “I do not think it is possible to overstate the seriousness of the problems the country is facing,” said Lord Hailsham, who is a leading member of the Cabinet team chosen by the Prime Minister (Mr Heath). Lord Jellicoe, who is the Government leader in the Upper Chamber, had given a warning earlier against alarmist talk about inflation, saying that it would be neurotic to overstate the situation. Lord Hailsham’s speech appeared to clash with Mr Heath’s determination to ride out the economic storm without drastic new deflationary measures or a compulsory freeze on wages. Mr Heath, who was sworn in as Prime Minister five months ago yesterday, has come under increasing pressure in the press and in Parliament to take action against the wages-costs spiral. Some commentators say that present inflation is the worst in the last 50 years, but, amid mounting public anxiety and exhaustive debate on radio and television, the Prime Minister has turned a deaf ear to all suggestions. In line with the non-inter-ventionist style that he is making the trademark of his Administration, Mr Heath has called on industry and organised labour to solve their own problems. He argues that the Government is already providing the framework for economic progress through the spend- ■ ing and taxation cuts announced last month.