Budget Proposals and Economic Situation

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 12 April 1949.

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Photo of Sir Ian Fraser Sir Ian Fraser , Lonsdale 12:00, 12 April 1949

No; more important than that, he has got in his armoury the promise that he will do something better next time just before an election. That is probably safer. Those two factors will probably save him. However, I congratulate him on going as far as he has gone. He is teaching his hon. Friends; they are learning, and it gives us a chance.

I want to make one brief local observation about my constituency. The President of the Board of Trade said that the activities of the tourist industry were one of those groups of activities which he would regard as being important dollar earners, and he would therefore apply to them some of the exceptional favouritism which he was promising to anyone who could produce or earn dollars. I welcome that statement, and I am sure that the seaside resorts and the holiday resorts, of which my constituency, with Morecambe, Lonsdale and other famous beautiful places, are notable examples, will be very glad of that.

I return to my last observation of a general character. The Chancellor has reminded us of another lesson of supreme importance in showing what wisdom there is in our history and how much we can gain by looking backwards to see what good things we have built up in this country over the centuries. He has reminded this Commons House of Parliament of its fundamental duty to look after the money—a duty we had begun to forget. It is, of course, true; it is enshrined in our constitution and history. The House of Lords is not allowed to deal with finance; we alone, who represent the Commons of England, have to deal with it. We are responsible and we must learn, or relearn, the lesson that we can have in this world only what we work for, that we can enjoy only what we deserve and that if we fly in the face of economic law we are in for disaster.

I congratulate the Chancellor on the broad general lines of his Budget, and I reserve any criticisms of detail to the Committee stage. I earnestly hope that the lesson he has taught will be sympathetically understood, by the wage earners of the country, whose benefit absolutely depends on following his lead. I also hope that right hon. and hon. Members opposite will learn the lesson, though I should not be surprised if the wage-earners and electors generally learned it first.