Orders of the Day — Economic Policy.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 7 August 1940.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr George Tomlinson Mr George Tomlinson , Farnworth

I am sorry that the hon. Member, in developing his argument, found himself unable to continue, and I shall be quite willing, when he is able to resume, to give way to him if the House desires. When the hon. Member for Walsall (Sir G. Schuster) was speaking, I found myself in profound agreement with one thing he said. That is, that we are in danger of falling between two stools. When the Lord Privy Seal brought forward the Measure which gave the right to the Government to conscript all we had in order to win the war, the spirit in the House was the spirit in the country, and it is the spirit that we desire to see behind the Government in order to achieve the object we have in view. The hon. Member suggested that when by taxing excess profits 100 per cent. the Government had taken away the profit motive in industry, they did not substitute something in its place. I think he is right, but I would point out that the powers of the Government have been used in one direction and that the people upon whom they have been used have responded in the spirit in which everybody expected they would. I had a letter the other day from a young man engaged in the retail side of the wireless industry. For a worker, he was occupying an exceptionally good post, in which he was earning £4 10s. a week. That sum may not be much to Members of this House, but it is a good wage for a working man. In addition, he was leaving home at seven in the morning and returning home by half-past four or live o'clock in the afternoon. He was needed, and by an order of the Government he was transferred from that job to another one at £3 10s. a week, and in addition had to leave home an hour earlier and did not get back until three hours later in the evening, and travelling expenses cost him 1s. 8d. a day. He wrote to me saying that if it was in the interests of the nation, he was quite willing to do it, but he pointed to what was taking place all around him and was in direct contradistinction to the effort he was called upon to make. That is a simple illustration of how we may be giving a fillip to one part of our effort at the expense of another.

I am interested in the cotton industry—from the workers' side, not from the standpoint of people who are not, perhaps, desirous of giving of their best because profit-making is no longer so good—and during the last six weeks I have had some unpleasant jobs. I have had to attempt to explain anomaly after anomaly which has arisen in the industry. In some cases workers have been called upon to work double time, or to work overtime, while the next mill has been short of work. I have attempted to explain this anomaly and to keep the people satisfied with working too long hours, and I have done it because I felt it was in the interest of the national effort, and because I thought that we were developing an economic plan, but what has taken place to-day convinces me that no definite economic plan has been thought out.

I do not claim to be an economist, and I do not want to speak in high falutin' language about these economic problems. They are simple so far as this industry is concerned, and the economics of the situation are simple. If I am told that the home trade must be restricted in order that industrial effort can be transferred to another section I understand the position, and if we were taking people out of one section of the cotton industry and placing them elsewhere I should have no complaint to make; but if we take people out of the cotton industry by restricting home consumption and then put them on the unemployment register, I say that is not following out a policy but is only fooling about. That is not control, but what we in Lancashire call "mucking about." Our people do not understand it, and I cannot explain it to them. I came here this afternoon thinking to get an explanation from the Government, but we have not had one, and the reason is, as the hon. Member for Walsall said, that we are attempting to reconcile irreconcilables and are falling between two stools. In my judgment we cannot have private interests and the national interests taking first place at one and the same time; where the two interests do not coincide somebody has got to back down. We are attempting to reconcile the individual interests of private owners with the national interest, and where they do not run tandem, do not coincide, we let things get into a muddle before deciding what to do.

I believe that the cotton industry has some contribution to make to our export trade. If it has not, I fail to see what industry can make a contribution. We began on that assumption some months ago, and I was not only interested, but enthusiastic. I spoke of it all over Lancashire, and thought there was an opportunity for the industry to "get a move on." What has happened? First, a Cotton Controller was appointed, but his duties would seem to clash, because he could not do all that he ought to do for the export trade while at the same time giving the necessary attention to the interests of the Ministry of Supply, to whom he is partly responsible. So there has been a division of effort. Even after all these months we do not know what the position is. Frankly, I see no plan which will carry us from one stage to the other.

I know that there has been some control and that under the Ministry of Supply wonderful work is being done for war purposes. In the making of cloth for the barrage balloons and other purposes people are working overtime and under very bad conditions, working longer hours than anyone ought to be called upon to work in a summer like this. Anyone who has worked in a mill knows what sacrifices these people are making. One section of our workers are doing that and realise that they are doing a job that is of vital importance to the country. Another section were told two or three months ago that all their labour would be required in order that the export trade might receive the fillip it needs. Some of them were engaged on home production. Just as they had got nicely working we received information that because of economic policy the home trade was to be cut down to 25 per cent. The effect upon the industry was disastrous. Orders for scores of millions of yards of cloth which had been woven were cancelled, and many manufacturers were left in an impossible position.

The point I am trying to make is that if there had been some co-ordinated policy, that cloth could have been taken over for stock. If, as the hon. Member for Seaham (Mr. Shinwell) said, it is reasonable to stock coal because coal is needed and miners would otherwise be unemployed, it is equally reasonable that we should stock cloth. The Government should purchase for stock textiles manufactured at this time rather than allow a situation to develop in which people have no work to do and no money to spend. Let us have the industry so run that the people in it can realise that they are not only giving of their best but are contributing to, the national effort in so doing. The situation in my own village is tragic. How can one appeal to those people to "Go to it" when there is a notice on the shed door that owing to shortage of supplies they will be laid off work this week? They do not understand all the finesse of this economic policy; they do not understand that it is necessary that one particular item should be cut down in order that the effort of the country can be concentrated in another direction. All they know is that they are wanting to work in the interests of the country and that there is no work for them to do.

Before we come to decisions in one direction we must take decisions in another direction. If we decide that goods are not to be consumed at home because that would not be in the national interest, we should first prepare to utilise in other ways the labour which has been producing those goods. If that labour cannot be turned over to the national effort, then I submit that by restricting consumption at home we are doing a disservice to the community rather than a service. I shall be glad if anyone can convince me to the contrary, because then I shall be able to tell my people how this position can be squared. It "does not square" to me. If you can convince me that by throwing a person out of work we are helping that person to help to win the war, then I can convince my people that they can go to the Employment Exchange and draw their 19s. a week with a good heart. But it does not fit in with what we are told in this House, does not fit in with the economics which we are told are necessary to win the war.

Let me, in two sentences, tell the House what I think is needed. Possibly hon. Members will not agree with it, but it is in line with what the hon. Member for Walsall said. I believe that it is the duty of the Government to take over all businesses, all production, and all the workers at the same time. Take over the workers now; concentrate all effort upon the production that is needed; guarantee to every man and woman a fair and reasonable standard of life; and at the end of the war we will settle the question of to whom the things belong. If we are in earnest about it, we cannot let a man say, "This is my factory, and I am prepared to work if you will give me 20 per cent, profit." If the factory is to be worth anything at all after the war, the war has to be won, and we should say that we are taking the nation's services for both the nation and the war. Everyone should be put to the task for which he is best suited. If necessary, a man should go to the making of armaments, or should continue with weaving, but he should know that he is doing his job at the bidding of the Government. The Government should be in a position to say, "No longer are you, as owner of this place, entitled to do what you please, and you must fit in with the nation's requirements. We need you, your business experience and managerial qualities. We will he responsible for finance and responsible for the product when it is finished, but we are going to determine what shall be produced."

Unless something is done along those lines we shall fall between two stools. We shall not get maximum output, we shall have lost the very things which we are seeking to retain—all because we wanted to have both the halfpenny and the cake at the same time. I appeal to the Minister to take another look at this problem, and I also appeal to the War Cabinet to realise that nothing less than the control of the nation's life will suffice as an economic policy at a time when we are all in danger of going under. With proper organisation we can come out on top.