Most Gracioits Sovereign,

Part of Sessional Orders. – in the House of Commons at on 7 February 1922.

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Mr. J. JONES:

In the first place I want to congratulate the hon. Gentleman who has just spoken upon the remarkable lucidity with which he has put his case, from his point of view, before the House. I want to suggest that he has travelled far more to the East than I am prepared to go. India and Egypt are standing examples of the lack of policy on the part of those who claim to be financiers. The average income of the native of India and Egypt is less than a week's wages of the average workman in Great Britain. If you want to do good trade you must give your customers something to buy with; more purchasing power. What is the purchasing power of the native of India and Egypt? Hon. Members talk glibly about the Empire. They should inquire into the conditions of the people who live in it. They should try to understand why it is that the English official operating in Egypt and in India gets 50 times more income than the man and the woman who has to pay his salary. I quite realise that the representatives of the British Government will not agree with me in this, but is the official in India or Egypt worth 50 times more than the people who have to find the salary that he enjoys? I am putting it at 50 times, but it is 500 times in reality. Here is a gentleman who collects the taxes enjoying 50 times as much salary as the people who pay him.

We at home grumble about taxation, but how would hon. Members like it if the income tax collector was to draw 50 times more income than themselves? Yet they talk about finance. Egypt was a civilised country before we were civilised, and so was India. When our own people wandered about in woods and were doing their best to emulate their ancestors, the monkeys, the people of India and Egypt were civilised. Now we say that we are the only people that matter. His Majesty's Speech gives us the information that we are prepared to do something for the people of these nations so that they may govern themselves. The speech of the Prime Minister to-day indicates that we are not prepared to do what we originally said we were prepared to do. I believe in self-determination for all parts of the Empire. I believe the Empire will eventually be saved by self-determination. You cannot any longer keep the people in chains. Do not imagine that this country can dominate the world merely because you say you are going to do so. The world is big enough, and you cannot go preaching self-determination to other peoples if you are not prepared to give it to the peoples within our own Empire. We are going to have a British Commonwealth.

We are going to have, reform of the House of Lords. Gentlemen who are sitting round are going to be lords. Lord help us. The hereditary principle is going to be made permanent. Those of us who are not fit to govern will eventually be offered jobs. Probably we may be "axed" to be Lord Chancellors, and then we will get the Geddes' axe! The House of Lords is going to be reformed. We are in favour of reforming it. Some of us here are going to de-form it. We are going to mend it by ending it! There is only one place for it, and that is oblivion, particularly when we get a Lord Chancellor of the kind that we have got now, who is a hooligan with a halo. We are being insulted by those who pretend to know more than we do. Labour is said to be unfit to govern, but we have seen an example of Government here. We have heard the explanations of the Prime Minister, and the policy pursued by his party. The right hon. Gentleman stated that after three years of conferences we are practically where we were at the beginning, and they are asking the country to get them out of the mess. We are going to have a Royal wedding as an escape for those in authority. Labour is not fit to govern. There is not a word in this Royal Speech which is not a contradiction of the policy laid down by the Government three years ago. Every word of this speech is an absolute contradiction of the promises made to the people of this country.

Take the men who fought in the War. In my own constituency the allowances of these men are being put down from 20 to 40 per cent. Where is the land fit for the heroes to live in now? [Interruption.] It is quite easy for fat men to talk, and for men who have made fortunes out of the War to make grimaces at me, but what does all this mean. This Royal Speech is an insult to the intelligence of the workers of this country. What do the statements made by Members of the Government mean? What do the people of this country expect with 2,000,000 unemployed and 10,000,000 dependants? What is going to happen to us? The Government have no policy of a definite character to meet the existing situation but economy. On what lines is economy going to be exercised? I saw economy at work to-day. I saw the Royal coaches going along the Strand and down Whitehall. Was that economy? There were gilded coaches, thousands of troops and bands playing. Is that economy? All gilded popinjays, and they were operating for all they were worth. Where is the real economy? [Interruption.] Hon. Members opposite do not like this, but they have got to have it.