§ Captain Sir ERNEST BENNETT(by Private Notice) asked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to classes of persons involved by various economies whose cases are of peculiarly great hardship for special reasons, and whether the Government can see its way to consider them?
The PRIME. MINISTERYes, Sir. Various cases have been brought to the attention of the Government in which particular classes of persons affected by the proposed cuts have been represented to be unfairly affected. These difficulties have been the subject of consideration by the Government, which believes that they can generally be adjusted without materially affecting the Budget Estimates.
§ Mr. ALPASSWill that include the whole of the unemployed?
§ The PRIME MINISTERNo, it will not.
§ Mr. BOWENDoes it include consideration of many of the civil servants who are subject to more than one cut?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThat is another matter for which this Government are not responsible.
§ Mr. T. WILLIAMSWill the reconsideration include all classes of teachers?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe consideration is not yet complete. The statement regarding class and class will be made as decisions are come to. I anticipate—though I make no pledge—that during the Debates on the Committee stage of the Bill, some of these announcements will be made.
§ Mr. BUCHANANSeeing that the Prime Minister has made a definite statement that the unemployed are not going to be affected by this reconsideration, has he now come to the conclusion definitely that 15s. 3d., or 23s. 3d. for two persons, is not an undue hardship?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe questions that are being put are not relevant to this question.
§ Mr. COCKSMy question is very relevant. I want to ask the Prime Minister whether he has considered the very hard case of the Attorney-General?
§ Mr. GEORGE HARDIEHas the question been reduced to this, that 15s. 3d. is too small a matter to be considered by the Prime Minister?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe point is that within; certain general blocks of cuts there are details that do not fit very well into the general scheme, and we are dealing with these.
§ Mrs. MANNINGAre the adjustments which the Prime Minister mentions to be made at the expense of other classes or at the expense of the Budget?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe hon. Lady must wait until the specific announcements are made.
§ Mr. CLYNESWill the Prime Minister give an indication when the announcements will be made, and will he undertake, in the event of a question being submitted from this side of the House, to give as early as possible a list of the persons affected? Does he not now consider that his replies to-day offer some justification for the criticisms that have been made?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI do not want to go into the controversy about the criticisms that have been made. What I say is that the scheme at which we have been working has revealed certain of these points, and we are very anxious that they should be met if possible. I cannot say when an announcement will be made, but an attempt will be made to refer to it a little more fully during the Committee stage of the Bill.
§ Mr. LOGANIn view of extreme poverty in our city, will the right hon. Gentleman give further consideration to the question of the unemployed if a deputation waits on him and points out our wants?
§ Mr. McSHANEHas it been necessary for discontent in the Navy—[HON. MEMBERS: "Order!"]
§ Mr. STEPHENCan the Prime Minister assure me that the particular case of the Glasgow teachers, who have already had a cut of 10 per cent. in wages, will be taken very carefully into account so that they will not have an additional cut of 15 per cent.?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe question of the Glasgow teachers, and also the Perthshire teachers—[An HON. MEMBER: "And the county of Carmarthen teachers."]—who have already had cuts recently, is under consideration.