LABOUR'S PLANNING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22280, 15 March 1947, Page 6

LABOUR'S PLANNING

“WELL ADVANCED” ATTLEE IN DEFENCE AMUSED BY CHURCHILL LONDON. March 13. The Prime Minister. Mr. C. R. Attlee, replying to the debate in the House of Commons, said all had enjoyed Mr. Churchill’s performance, but he did not Ihink he had contributed much to the serious side of the debate. Mr. Attlee said he believed the House had shown general acceptance of the prin;iple of democratic planning. He was shocked to find Mr. Churchill thought Britain should take all the food and coal for herself and leave other people to “go hang.’’ The Government, he added, believed not in plans to be implemented by compulsion. but in plans to be worked out in consultation with both sides of industry and to be willingly carried out under the Government’s general guidance. The Government was working on a five-year plan. The preliminary work was well advanced. The Government wanted a plan for the whole of the people, to abolish the ‘’submerged t.enth” which had been a feature of economic organisation in the past. “Cannot Afford Shorter Hours” It was necessary, however, to warn that the country could not afford shorter working hours unless it was getting full-production. Mr. Attlee added: “In our planning we have not suggested that the profit motive should not operate at all. We believe in our policy because we believe it is the best way of organising our economy.” Mr. Attlee said: “Mr. Churchill always amuses me. He always gets up with an air of injured innocence. He is always a patriot who is superior to pauty. He seems to regard his views as essentially above and beyond party—an amiable characteristic which has carried him through a long and varied career. (Laughter). “The Government during the past 18 months has had to give regard to the foreign situation and planning in a difficult time of shortages.” British Five-Year Plan Referring to Mr. Churchill’s statement about rationing. Mr Attlee said Mr Churchill had taken the heavy rationed worker in Germany and compared him with the ordinary worker in Britain. Referring again to the Five-Year Plan. Mr. Attlee said that for the first time in British history an attempt was being made to produce a plan of this kind in peacetime. Nationalisation was simply a means to an end—a finer life and standard for all the people, not just for a few. It was difficult in planning to avoid some degree of maladjustment. The success of demobilisation, the speed of reabsorption of manpower into industry, the restarting of industry, housing and housing repairs had made very great pressure on all kinds of raw materials. Mr. Attlee, after a reference to the effect that the shorter hours led to greater production, said he was sorry the White Paper in some quarters should be taken as a mere prophecy of disaster.

After the voting figures were announced. a Conservative backbencher shouted “Resign!” But Mr. Attlee left the' broadly. He received a great ovation from his supporters.