Finance Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 June 1962.

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Photo of Mr Frederick Willey Mr Frederick Willey , Sunderland North 12:00, 5 June 1962

The right hon. Gentleman seems to be equally unobservant. I am interested in the amount of £ 12 million, which corresponds with the present £12 million provided by way of covenant. Mr. Vaizey estimates that one-third of the income of public schools comes from covenants, and I assume on the same basis that this would provide about that amount. At the end of the day the right hon. Gentleman has to face the position that by this stratagem and that stratagem he has ensured that the income of the public schools will come almost entirely from public sources.

That is a remarkable contribution. I do not think that the right hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends really understood what they were suggesting. It is remarkable that they should make this suggestion of a general allergy towards the Welfare State. It was remarkable that the hon. Member for Bournemouth, West (Mr. Eden) talked about the Welfare State being dispensable in the context of education. This could not make a more harmful contribution to political thought at the moment.

I accept the four points the right hon. Gentleman raised. My difficulty is seeing the relevance of the four points to the new Clause. The first point the right hon. Gentleman raised about the religious or denominational foundation of educational establishments is a very difficult question, and we have to face it. It is not a question about which we need be unduly depressed, because many colleges have such a foundation and they have been able fully to accept State support. However, it is something to which we must pay close regard. We should not ignore this aspect of education when we are talking about the private sector.

The other questions are equally irrelevant. I admit at once that there is a case for a further examination of boarding school education. We discussed this topic when we discussed public schools. There is the very difficult and aggravating question now of entrance to universities. I can think of nothing worse than to support a Clause such as this by the argument that it would provide access to education at universities. This is most unhelpful.

As to the size of classes, we recently had a debate on education. We are appalled by the prospect, but the situation would not be helped by the Clause. So I would express appreciation to the Financial Secretary for resisting this. I am, however, a little unhappy that he was not more forthright in opposing these proposals and supporting the Welfare State and our education and health provisions. He should have said that these are the first priority. Forgiving him for those shortcomings, I hope that now that he has indicated that the Government are unwilling to accept the Clause the right hon. Gentleman will withdraw it.