MacDONALD IN DANGER.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17761, 7 December 1929, Page 5

MacDONALD IN DANGER.

REVOLT IN THE COMMONS.

VERY ' HEATED DEBATE.

OVER UNEMPLOYED INSURANCE.

(A. and N.Z. Cable)

LONDON, Dec. 5

The House of Commons debated last evening in committee the Unemployment Insurance Bill. After a heated debate in connection with the conditions regarding persons “genuinely seeking work,” the • Government was faced with an open revolt by its bacll bench members, Including the representatives of the big Trade Unions, which would certainly have entailed a defeat.

, The Minister of Labour, Miss Bondfield, hurriedly retired with the Attorney-General, Sir W. A. Jowitt, and when she returned announced that she would withdraw the whole subclause for redrafting.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Phillip Snowden, by special request, will meet the recalcitrant members to-day. He will be faced by demands not only from the Clydeside members, but also the Trade Union members who constitute about 75 per cent, of the strength of the party in the House of Commons. The Trade Unions’ members demand that the waiting period before the benefit is paid should be three instead of six days. It is estimated that this would cost £400,000 a year.

The debate last evening caused the Prime Minister, Mr Ramsay MacDonald, some anxious moments. The rank and fi T e seemed determined to defeat the Ministers unless they surrendered.