Orders of the Day — Ways and Means.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 16 April 1930.

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Photo of Mr Philip Snowden Mr Philip Snowden , Colne Valley

A good deal has been said—and reference has been made to it by the late Secretary for War—about national credit. The right hon. Gentleman attempted to criticise the observations made by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary last night. I have made two conversions this year, one in the autumn and one in February. My first conversion was criticised in some quarters on the ground that the terms were too good. I did it quite deliberately. It was something in the nature of an experiment, and one reason why I took a certain amount of risk was because I had in mind the experience of the right hon. Gentleman 12 months before. I thought it just possible that there might be some people who were not aware that there had been a change in the financial control of the country. The right hon. Gentleman's conversions failed to realise what was necessary to meet maturing debt by nearly £60,000,000. I could not afford to take a risk like that. But I had other purposes in my mind. I did not disclose them then, and I am not going to state them now beyond this. The purpose I had in mind can be seen in the state of the Money Market to-day, the reduction in the Floating Debt, and the reduction of the Bank Rate from 6½ per cent. to 3½ per cent.