§ Now, I am ready to turn to the new year, and I think it will be convenient if I first make a survey of the position of revenue and expenditure as we find them to-day, and then go on afterwards to consider what supplementary provisions must be mad:, on either side of the account. I begin with the Fixed Debt Charge. That has remained during the last three years at the same figure of £224,000,000. During that period I have been able out of savings within that charge to make available for debt redemption £32,500,000. I must say again, as I have said before, that in normal times I should not consider such provision as adequate. But times have not been normal during these three years and they have not been normal during the past year; and much as I should like in this Budget to make an increased provision 41 for the redemption of debt, I do not feel justified in doing so in present circumstances. I therefore propose to maintain the Fixed Debt Charge at £224,000,000. If interest rates should remain somewhere about their present low level, I have no doubt that I shall be able to find within that sum a modest but useful amount of revenue to reduce the debt still further; but in the meantime, and by way of precaution, I propose to do as I did last year, and to take powers to borrow for the purposes of the contractual sinking funds. The other Consolidated Fund Services do not require any special comment. Northern Ireland will want £7,500,000; Miscellaneous Services, £3,200,000 and £600,000 will be required for the Post Office Fund.
§ The Estimates for the Supply Services have already been published and hon. Members who have had an opportunity to study them are aware that they provide for the Civil Departments, £378,746,000, and for the Defence Services, £158,251,000, or a total of £536,997,000. We must now consider what provision will be necessary for Supplementary Estimates which will have to be laid for certain expenditure by the Civil Departments and also for the additional expenditure upon the Defence Forces which is foreshadowed in the White Paper recently presented to Parliament. Nothing has been provided in the Estimates, so far published, for the grants which are being paid to Public Assistance Authorities until the Second Appointed Day under the Unemployment Act of 1934. It will be necessary to pass legislation in order to continue those grants after 31st March, 1936. Accordingly, I have to provide a margin to meet this liability, which I put at £5,600,000.
§ As to the Defence Forces, I have already made known in answer to a question that another £10,000,000 will be required for the Air Force. In addition to that, further sums will be wanted for the Army and Navy which I am not at this moment in a position exactly to specify, but which may well, together, be rather more than the sum which is to be allotted to the Air Force. On the other hand, taking the Estimates as a whole, past experience shows that at the end of the year, there always remain some items unspent. Taking into account all the possibilities and probabilities of the situation, I have decided to 42 set aside as a margin for the Supplementary Estimates for the Defence Services £20,000,000. That will bring up the total for the Supply Services to £562,597,000.
§ Of the two self-balancing items, the Post Office and the Road Fund, the Post Office again shows a substantial increase and stands at £69,344,600. That is an increase over the actual expenditure of 1935 of £3,250,000 and that again is partly to be attributed to the full effect of the restoration of the cuts but mainly to the necessity for providing further working expenditure. I estimate the yield of Motor Vehicle Duties for the current year, after deducting the Exchequer share, at £26,500,000 and that will form the Road Fund for the year.
§ I can summarise the expenditure for 1936, including Supplementary Estimates but omitting the self-balancing items as follows:
| £ | |
| Fixed Debt Charge | 224,000,000 |
| Other Consolidated Fund Services | 11,300,000 |
| Supply Services | 562,597,000 |
| Total | £797,897,000 |