Orders of the Day — Finance Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 May 1950.

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Photo of Sir Austen Albu Sir Austen Albu , Edmonton 12:00, 16 May 1950

Since it is only a short time ago that I made my own maiden speech, it is with considerable humility that I congratulate the hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Remnant) on his. He dealt with a subject of great interest to many of us on both sides of the House who have been in industry all our lives. Although we cannot entirely agree with all of his argument, he maintained the tradition of maiden speakers in using a relatively non-controversial argument. But this was no doubt because he was carrying on the tradition of his father who was, I understand, a Member of this House for 28 years. I hope that we shall hear the hon. Gentleman on this subject on many occasions in the future, and we shall take great pleasure in controverting his arguments.

I had the disadvantage of being ill during the Budget Debate. There is a certain advantage in being able to read the arguments dispassionately, and it is true that the illness from which I suffered tended to predispose me to sympathy with the point of view of the Opposition. I looked for the constructive proposals which I hoped they would put forward, but as usual, rather than make a contribution towards solving our problems they seemed to prefer, in the words of Gladstone, "to make a luxury of panics."

It became the habit, and Members have referred to it during this Debate, to regard the Budget as the basis of our economic planning. It is therefore assumed sometimes that there are no disagreements in principle between the two sides of the House over our economic affairs. I believe this is wrong. I believe that there are fundamental differences of opinion, if not between all members on each side, at any rate between the centre of gravity of the party opposite and the weight of opinion on this side. The truth is that the party opposite—perhaps both parties opposite—will not accept the fundamental change that has taken place in our social relationships. They continue to cling, whatever the facts, to the outworn notion that society is based on the economic relationships of the free market, a state of affairs which as some of the discussions that have taken place this evening show clearly, no longer exists, and has not existed for a considerable time.

I think that hon. Members opposite are conscious of the anomaly of their position since they became a Protectionist party; and, since many of them have been participating in schemes for the control of industrial output and the fixing of prices by agreement. I think with very few exceptions we all agree that farmers should receive prices in excess of the economic price that would be determined in a free market.