Clause 4. — (Payments to be either of cost of works or by reference to value.)

Part of Orders of the Day — War Damage Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 29 January 1941.

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Photo of Mr Lewis Silkin Mr Lewis Silkin , Camberwell Peckham

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was, I think, much more successful in his criticism of the Amendments on the Paper than in his defence of the Clause as it stands. There is a good deal of validity in his criticism of the Amendments, but nobody can feel happy about the Clause as it stands. Clearly there is a very big difference between the treatment of two individuals who have both suffered as a result of enemy action. The person who has suffered more is to be treated worse than the person who has suffered less. The Government must find a way out of this difficulty. Nobody can feel satisfied when he sees that the fellow next-door who has suffered less than he has is getting more favourable treatment than he is. There is no doubt that the cost-of-works payment is intended as a complete indemnity to the person who has suffered. While I see the force of the argument that the person who has had a total loss of old property ought not to expect a new property in its place, I feel that the Chancellor is really giving that benefit, in a large measure, to the person who gets a cost-of-works payment. It is important that we should get compensation on the basis of a new reinstatement for the others. If it is wrong that a person who gets a value payment should be treated in that way, it is equally wrong in the case of a person who gets a cost-of-works payment. The Chancellor is not doing anything about that. I recognise that the person with an old property ought not to expect a new property in its place.

But the Chancellor must deal with the case of the person who loses a relatively new property. The argument of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is that there may be old houses, and therefore they ought not to expect them to be reinstated in a new condition, which at the best only applies to a proportion of the houses in this country. While I recognise that it is exceedingly difficult to find the answer to-day, and to ensure equality of treatment between the persons concerned, I would ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to look at this question again in the light of the discussion which has taken place, and to consider the suggestions made by the hon. Member who has just spoken. We ought to consider this in all its bearings and ensure that a person who has a relatively new property totally destroyed should be put into a position of having a new property in its place.

This principle is not a new one. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is demanding the same contribution from the owner of a new property as from the owner of an old property. This applies to rateable value. When I insure against fire, the fire office does not ask for an extra premium based on the value of the property. There is a uniform premium, and the obligation of the fire office is to reinstate the property in the condition in which it was before. If an old building is burnt down, they undertake to give you the value of the building as it was before. Therefore I see an inherent difficulty in the proposal of my hon. Friend the Member for North Battersea (Mr. Douglas), which is subject to the same kind of variation, admittedly, as in the case of old property.

In another part of the Bill it may well be that a person who would normally be entitled to a cost of works payment will get a value payment, because it is necessary in the public interest. It is the case of the person whose property is not necessarily a total loss. He goes to the planning stores where he will get the cost of works payment and not the value payment, and he will therefore suffer through no fault of his own. That inequality will be there.

Finally, in another part of the Bill it is proposed to compensate in full on a reinstatement basis property which has been damaged, although it is old property. That principle is conceded in another part of the Bill. You are to get the value of a new article in place of an old article which has been destroyed. If it is conceded in one place, I see no reason why it should not be conceded in another. This matter really cannot be left where it is at present. The Clause is most unsatisfactory, and while I am not able to put forward an acceptable proposal at this stage, and the Amendments, I admit, require further consideration, I hope the Chancellor of the Exchequer will consider the question again and again in order to remove this inequality of treatment before he says that he is not in a position to make any alterations in this Bill.