Debate on the Address

Part of Orders of the Day — King's Speech – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 December 1944.

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Photo of Mr John Wardlaw-Milne Mr John Wardlaw-Milne , Kidderminster 12:00, 1 December 1944

There is nothing wrong with it, but I want to know how they propose to do it. We are all entirely in agreement, but surely I am entitled to ask, without necessarily expecting the Government to give full details now, how they propose to do it; as a phrase it does not carry us much further. It is well meant but we would like to see it elaborated. The Government also say that they are going to assist firms to switch over to peace-time production. What does that mean and in what form is this assistance to be given? They say they are going to find out in advance where the skilled labour is. I hope they will be able to do it. They say they are going to regulate the flow and direction of investment. Many of these ideas are admirable but others, I suggest, are dangerous to the very spirit of free enterprise and initiative which the Government say is a prime factor in this resurrection.

I am bound to compare our position as we stand in this country, as our industrialists stand when trying to restart industry and export trade, on which everything depends, and what our Government have been able to do with the position which exists in the United States. I know we are in a different position from America, but according to that creditable and generally well-written paper, "The Economist," the Commodity Credit Corporation of America have already, under Government auspices, got plans agreed for subsidies on cotton and wheat. They have made arrangements for the disposal of surplus war property. They have arranged the development of great new regional projects, and, as an example, have completed a great new airport in New York. These are practical measures which have been taken for the post-war period. I do not think we can claim that we can do all that America can do, because their position is different, but at the same time we have to compare these decisions with the rather nebulous statements, which I have read from the White Paper, for making preparations to reduce unemployment and assisting industry. I think that we and industry want something more direct from the Government as to the manner in which they intend to help.

I would like the House to consider the position of the manufacturer in this country to-day, who is looking forward to taking the responsibility and the initiative which the White Paper stated is so necessary in restarting his business. I think it is natural that after the war we shall have demands from trade unions for higher wages and shorter hours. Both are most desirable—if industry can stand it—and I believe are possible, because, taking a long view, I believe that science will in the end give us everything we want with less labour in both industry and agriculture. But are the trade unions on their part going to discipline their workers? Are they going to work to prevent illegal strikes? Let us have it plainly. It cannot be all on one side. Are the trade unions going to encourage the workers really to understand the problems of industry and get close to them, because it is only in that way that we shall have success, or are they going to put every possible obstruction in the way of those whose business it is to manage their industry?

Again, will the Ministry of Labour continue to dictate who must be employed? And what about the Ministry of Supply and its controls of all our material? What about the hundreds of forms which now have to be filled up, many of them very unnecessary? Is the manufacturer to be told where his factory must be, in what surroundings, and how he must run it? If so, how are we to get the initiative from industry of which the Government talk? How many planners are we going to have? How long is bureaucracy going to hang on to its powers? How long are we going to have a Civil Service composed of more than 1,400,000 full time civil servants, which was about the figure at the end of last year, as compared with 600,000 odd before the war?