HC Deb 10 September 1931 vol 256 cc299-300

I will turn to a statement of the revised Estimates for this year and next year, and I start from the existing basis, that is, upon the existing taxes and expenditure apart from what I have just said with regard to the transfer of borrowing to current expenditure. Since the Budget Statement in April, the great depression has grown deeper, and I am faced with a very serious short fall of revenue which cannot be put at less in the current year than £25,000,000 on Inland Revenue and £4,000,000 on Customs and Excise. The suspension of War Debt payments under the Hoover Plan will further reduce the revenue this year by over £30,000,000, of which £25,000,000 is accounted for by reparations and receipts on account of allied debts, and £5,000,000 is accounted for by the extension that we made of the Hoover plan to the Dominions and relief and certain reconstruction loans to States in Europe.

The Hoover plan, on the other hand, reduced the debt interest to be paid to the United States by £13,500,000 this year. The expenditure of the year since the Budget was introduced will be increased by Supplementary Estimates amounting to a little under £1,000,000—about £813,000. In addition, there is the decision for the transfer of borrowing for the Unemployment Fund and the Road Fund to Votes, the current year's charges amounting to £25,000,000 for unemployment borrow- ing, and £9,000,000 borrowing for the Road Fund. The Hoover plan also reduces the provision required for debt redemption, that is, on the American Debt, by £5,750,000, and it therefore reduces the Sinking Fund as fixed in the Budget of this year by that amount, that is, it reduces it to just over £46,000,000.

I am going to summarise these figures in order to make them as plain as I can to the House. We shall have a loss of revenue from taxes of £29,000,000 and a loss of revenue on reparations and debts of £30,300,000; that is £59,000,000 loss of revenue; Supplementary Estimates amount to £813,000; the cessation of borrowing for unemployment and the Road Fund involves a charge of £34,000,000, that is a total of £94,000,000. We are saving £13,550,000 as interest on the American debt, and £5,750,000 of Sinking Fund on that debt. These two figures amount to £19,300,000. Deducting this £19,300,000 from the £94,000,000, we get an estimated deficit on this year's Budget of £74,700,000.