LABOUR’S POLICY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25851, 23 May 1945, Page 5

LABOUR’S POLICY

A FIVE-YEAR PLAN CONTROL OF CERTAIN INDUSTRIES (Rec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, May 22. The real fight between Labour and its Conservative opponents at the forthcoming general election would be on economic and industrial policy, said Mr Herbert Morrison, speaking at a Labour Party conference at Blackpool. The essence of this fight would be the future of British industry, ensuring full employment, control of financial credit institutions, agriculture, and housing. Mr Morrison described the policy declaration as embodying Labour’s five-year plan. "We will take certain industries in our first period of power and socialise those which require socialisation first on the basis of suitability and urgency. It will keep us pretty busy socialising this block of industry in the dourse of a five-year Parliament. We cannot tolerate key industries and financial institutions being muddled or built into anti-social, totalitarian monopolies.”

Mr Morrison added it was no good saying that they intended socialising electricity, fuel, power or transport because it was in accordance with the Labour Party’s principles. The electorate would expect to be shown why

they wanted to do this. They must pfove their case eadn time. They must socialise in the public interest That must be the test. Mr Morrison defended the British civil servants against a charge of being red tape bureaucrats, but he added that as the Government became more and more concerned in economic and industrial affairs the civil service must be adapted and retained. Civil servants must know more about the ways of business and be able to talk to industrialists in their own language.

Mr Morrison declared that Labour wanted to establish prosperous British agriculture, but immediate nationalisation of the land would be impracticable because of the vast financial transactions which would be involved. As long as they had power to buy up inefficient landowners that was enough for the time being. The bigger project could follow later. The economic arguments used about domestic affairs were largely applicable to international affairs. “Unlike the Communists, we are not so reactionary that we seek an alliance with the Tories and Liberals merely because they accepted the conclusions of the Crimea conference.”

Mr Morrison said Labour must win not only more industrial and rural seats, but also suburban so-called middle-class electorates. 1 The delegates gave Mr Morrison a tremendous ovation for his speech, which is generally regarded as the first of the election campaign. Lord Strabolgi said the Conservatives intended to fight the campaign with red herrings and red letters. "We must make it clear that we will nol tolerate an unnecessary quarrel with Russia.”