Expenditure Arising Out of the War.

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply. – in the House of Commons at on 10 March 1942.

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Photo of Commander William King-Hall Commander William King-Hall , Ormskirk

I listened with some interest to the speeches of my hon. Friend the Member for Camlachie (Mr. Stephen), my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Mr. Stokes), and the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (Mr. Orr-Ewing) because of the community of thought which seemed to run through them. I suggest that if the two hon. Members on this side would speak on the other side of the House and advocate their views and call them the new Conservatism, they might find a remarkable degree of support. A number of Members have commented on the fact that during this war we have succeeded in raising loans for the conduct of the war at a rate of interest approximately half of that which was needed in the last war. I think the financial authorities, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his financial first-lieutenant, are entitled to the congratulations of the House on the skill with which the financial ship has been navigated in this war, within the limitation of what has been made possible by general Government policy. Of course, when on 22nd May, 1940, the then Lord Privy Seal said that the Government demanded complete control over persons and property, not just some persons of some particular class of the community, but of all persons, rich and poor, employer, workman, man or woman, and all property"—[0FFICIAL REPORT, 22nd May. 29.40; col. 152, Vol. 361.] I am bound to say that I was one of those who thought something really drastic was going to happen in the conduct of the war. It is clear that the powers exist for us to have an even lower rate of interest, or, for that matter, no interest at all, in the raising of loans. Although these powers were asked for and were granted by the House of Commons in one minute under two hours, I am bound to say that on the financial side, as on other sides, every usage of power has been as if it involved the Government in the spending of a coupon of popularity. In this matter the Government have made a profound psychological error.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer referred in his speech to the connection between the whole credit position of the Government and Warship Weeks, and, of course, some of the money we are being asked for to-day will be spent on the organisation and expenses of those weeks. He told us that these weeks had done a great deal to lay the foundation for continuous Saving Group movements, which are of such importance and of so much value. I agree with that, and, if I say something on the less satisfactory aspects of Warship Weeks, Tank Weeks and various other special efforts, I wish to make it quite clear that I do not wish in the slightest degree to involve in this criticism the thousands of devoted voluntary workers all over the country who have put in such an amount of work in an attempt to meet the desire of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for saving and non-spending. But there is another side to this question to which publicity needs to be given. I have opened 12 or 15 of these various weeks—I shall have opened another five by the end of this week. There are certain misunderstandings which exist. I know they are known to the Treasury and that it is the Treasury's desire that publicity should be given to them. One is the misunderstanding that any value to the State is obtained by selling industrial securities and investing them in Government bonds—