Amendment of Law.

Part of Orders of the Day — Ways and Means. – in the House of Commons at on 27 April 1926.

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Photo of Mr Ronald McNeill Mr Ronald McNeill , Canterbury

There is an old saying, which has now almost reached the dignity of a constitutional maxim, that it is the function of His Majesty's Opposition to oppose. I am quite certain that there is no one who undertakes that duty with greater enjoyment to himself than the right hon. Gentleman. I could not help reflecting while he was speaking that, of all historical roles, that which I can imagine that the right hon. Gentleman could most properly fill would be among those officials of Darius who sought occasion against the prophet Daniel. I do not think in his earnest research that he really found, during the hour in which he has entertained us, very much occasion against my right hon. Friend. There is one thing I am certain of and that is that he would be delighted, and quite ready, to send my right hon. Friend to a den of lions, though, if I may judge by the criticism which we have heard just now, I believe those lions would prove as tame and innocuous as the original ones. The right hon. Gentleman began his attempt to find occasion against the Chancellor of the Exchequer by reminding us that last year my right hon. Friend said, with the caution that distinguishes him and of which we had several examples yesterday, that this year he would no doubt "be faced by the consequences of what he was doing 12 months ago.

The right hon. Gentleman brought out this quotation, thinking that by doing so, and by doing so alone, he was embarrassing my right hon. Friend in view of what has taken place. I do not think that my right hon. Friend, or those who are supporting him, need shrink from the consequences of what was done last year. Taking into consideration the whole of the circumstances of the country at the present moment, the difficulties with which he has been confronted, the state of trade, the social conditions of the people, I do not think that the fact that, with the small adjustments of taxation to which I shall refer in a moment, he has succeeded in balancing the Budget and showing a surplus in face of all those difficulties is a consequence of which my right hon. Friend need be ashamed.

The difficulty I have in dealing immediately with the right hon. Gentleman's criticisms is two-fold. A considerable part of his speech, and I think the most important part, was, as he will himself recognise, of a very technical description. I mean that part in which he dealt with the national credit, the terms on which the Government can borrow money and the consequences which might arise from that state of things when conversion of loans will become necessary. I pay a tribute to the right hon. Gentleman on the way in which lie dealt with it in a very carefully prepared speech that was of a very technical character. But I hope that neither he nor the Committee will expect me to deal with those points without having seen in print what he said on these subjects.

I will now make only one general observation. I think we all recognise the tremendous importance of the conversion operations which will be necessary within the next few years and the tremendous obstacles which do stand in the way of successful operations of that sort owing to commitments already inevitably made and the consequent condition of national credit. The only moral to be drawn from that is that everything that is possible should be done not merely by my right hon. Friend but by all parties to support the credit of the State, not to make demands for further commitments, and to exercise, not merely in the Government service but throughout the nation, the economy upon which alone the ultimate credit of the nation must rest. If the right hon. Gentleman's observations only mean that the party to which he belongs, and which he leads will support the Government in all efforts of economy—I am not now merely talking about small questions of economy in a Government Department but in the very much larger sense of not making demands upon the Government for legislation which would involve commitments and involve expenditure—then I certainly, and I am quite certain I can speak for my right hon. Friend, will have no complaint with regard to what he has said in regard to that side of our national finance. The right hon. Gentleman made a statement, and I think he said that it was in the French Press, in regard to our negotiations with France, a statement which has not a shadow of foundation.