BRITAIN’S ELECTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27274, 28 December 1949, Page 5

BRITAIN’S ELECTIONS

Increasing Pressure Within Party And Government EARLIER DATE FAVOURED From E. G. Webber, NZPA Special Correspondent Rec. 8 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 27. The year seems likely to close without any indication of an answer to what has become the most urgent political question in Britain—the date of the general election. It is nevertheless plain that pressure within the Government and within the Labour Party is increasingly in favour of an early declaration of the date, and that the weight of opinion is now more on the side of an early appeal than it has been previously. The Foreign Secretary, Mr Ernest Bevin, who is the party’s chief guide in its relations with the trade unions, is still, it is believed, in favour of holding the election in June, but other influential party leaders, such as the Leader of the House of Commons, Mr Herbert Morrison, and the Health Minister, Mr Aneurin Bevan, are now stated to be in favour of going to the country in March. Mr Attlee’s earlier view was that the Government should run its full term, and while there is no reason to believe that he has changed this view, there is no doubt that the arguments in favour of his doing so are increasing.

Many of these arguments are coming from the trades unions, which would like to see an early end to the present political uncertainty. They have agreed, though reluctantly, to accept a rise in the standard of living without asking for further wage increasesfcibut the Trades Union Congress leaders realise very well that the longer the present situation continues the more difficult it will become to ensure that individual unions toe the executive’s line. The Next Budget An important factor will be the nature of the next Budget, which should be delivered in April. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, encouraged by recent trade figures, is now reported to take a more hopeful view of the country’s financial prospects. If, however, he presents a Budget which reflects this view, he will undoubtedly bewilder the unions and provide material for Communists and other critics, who argue that he is presenting an unnecessarily pessimistic account of the nation’s affairs in order to force the trades unions to abate their wage claims and make other sacrifices. There is little likelihood that when the TUC leaders hold their next meeting, in January, they will refuse to . support the Government’s' wage-freez-ing policy, but unless the date of the election is known by then they will face difficulties in ensuring that dissatisfied unions do not take an independent and embarrassing line. Labour Party organisers and campaign managers are not in favour of a winter election, chiefly because they argue that the weather factor is much more likely to be against them. They would like 'to see a Budget which would give them votes, followed after the necessary period of preparation by an election in the spring or summer. A Further Issue The Food Minister, Mr John Strachqy’s, recent hurried visit to Tanganyika, where it is now admitted he encountered widespread dissatisfaction among employees in the groundnuts scheme, has also a bearing. Mr Strachey, with full support of the Cabinet, has so closely identified himself with the scheme and with the chairman- of the Overseas Food Corporation, Sir Leslie Plummer, that if , he gavg way to requests for Sir Les- ’ ' lie’s replacement he would find it difficult to avoid offering his own resignation. This could be extremely damaging to the Government in the election year, and it is therefore likely that the party leaders will find an early election a convenient/ means of deferring the issue. This is not likely to be a decisive argument, but it is one of a number which is weighing the scales in favour of a March rather than a June election.