Orders of the Day — National Insurance Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 13 November 1957.

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Photo of Mr Richard Crossman Mr Richard Crossman , Coventry East 12:00, 13 November 1957

I could not admit that. Will the hon. Member allow me to put this to him? The Minister made one very serious criticism of our scheme. He said that we had miscalculated the amount we would have in contributions. He said that at the end of ten years we would have only £1 billion. I have been working out what we would have at the end of ten years under the Government's scheme. I find that he would have squandered £1,400 million. That is the difference. The criticism of us is that we would have only £1 billion surplus in our fund, whereas, if we do not have the Labour Party scheme, the right hon. Gentleman admits that £1,400 million will be squandered. Therefore, let us improve the fund.