THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 22, 1948. Britain's Recovery Plan

Northern Advocate, 22 December 1948, Page 8

THE NORTHERN ADVOCATE Registered for transmission through the Post as a newspaper WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 22, 1948. Britain's Recovery Plan

The British Government’s longterm recovery plan, which was announced yesterday, reveals the hand and brain of an austere designer. If all goes well with the plan future generations of British people will occupy a happier position than does the present generation, which, in order that the foundations of Britain’s prosperity may be effectively strengthened, is to be asked to continue economies it was hoped would become unnecessary when World War II ended.

Sir Stafford Cripps, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, clearly does not intend to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Dr Dalton, when utilising the aid Britain is to receive under the Marshall Plan. The first instalment of aid received by Britain from the United States was spent largely upon things intended to improve immediately the needs of the people, in the shape of food and domestic amenities.

As a result of this policy, which was approved by those who did not look far ahead, comparatively little was done to build up the machinery and general equipment required to enable Britain to increase her exports of manufactures. Despite this, Britain has made remarkable progress, her exports having reached a high level, but critics of Dr Dalton urge that his shortterm policy was in effect a delusion, for had the policy which Sir Stafford Cripps has now announced been adopted when American ' aid first became available, the long-term policy would not have called for the degree of austerity Sir Stafford considers the people should continue to suffer.

Sir Stafford is firmly of the opinion that it is much better for the British people to suffer hardship for a season in order that Britain’s economic stability may be assured rather than that they should ‘'eat, drink and be merry” without regard for the future. At the same time, the Chancellor believes that if workers increase production, and so improve the country’s economic position, they will be able to obtain more meat, eggs, oils and fats, as well as increased supplies of clothing and household goods, thus reducing the austerity burden they have had to bear.

The plan provides for “an expenditure of more than £1,735,000,000 from 1949 to 1953 on a huge-scale production drive, with a massive in-

vestment programme to support production targets.”

The four-year programme, gigantic in conception and scope, is summed up in a White Paper as follows: “Broadly speaking, the programme provides for an expansion of output in manufacturing, mining, agriculture, building and public utilities, taken on the whole, to a level about one-third above that of before the war, and. in spite of the constant or slightly declining labour force, to increase manufacturing output by a quarter in the five years from 1947 to a level about 40 per cent above that of 1938.”

Questioned as to the likely outcome of this programme Sir Stafford Cripps said that on the assumptions he and his advisers had made “we will be able 1o pay our way in the world only by the most careful housekeeping and by economising on foreign exchange earnings so as to spend them only on things that matter most.”

With characteristic candour, Sir Stafford warned journalists, when discussing the four-year plan, against a “false conclusion” that the nation’s standard of living could be expected to be higher in 1952 than in 1947,’ for, he said, planning over such a long period must remain flexible.

In other words, while planning is desirable, if not unavoidable, it must be subject to alteration if, and when, circumstances dictate deviation from a predetermined course. For that reason, Sir Stafford Cripps has wisely refrained from dogmatism, but he has set before the nation a programme which, if further sacrifice and hard work are put into it, may be expected to bring the country to the desired haven. Clearly, much is expected from the people of Britain, who, as The Times says, are being asked to suffer a curtailment of consumption during the next few years so that resources can be devoted to capital re-equip-ment, which is one of the basic assumptions upon which the programme rests.

Sir Stafford Cripps, we are told, was asked: “Is the plan not, in fact, committing the country to four more years of austerity?” His reply was: “It is not the plan which commits the country; it is the economic circumstances of the world.”

Who can question this declaration, however disappointing it may be to those who must bow to austerity at a time when they hoped to be enjoying freedom from it?