§ 49. Sir George Mitchesonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the amount of Defence expenditure between 1st April, 1939, and 31st August, 1939, or to the nearest available date, and the war expenditure between that date and 31st March, 1940?
§ Sir J. SimonExpenditure on Defence, including Civil Defence, from the 1st April to the 2nd September, 1939, amounted to approximately £237,000,000. As regards the remainder of the financial year, it is not the practice in current Exchequer returns which relate to the period of the war to give details of the expenditure on Supply Services.
§ Mr. KirkwoodIs there any truth in the rumour—at any rate it was in the "Daily Herald"—that you were going to make an attack in your Budget on the people who are in between £5 and £12 per week?
§ Sir J. SimonIf the hon. Gentleman is referring to any statements in newspapers as to Budget proposals, he may take it that there is no sort of authority for any sort of statement in any newspaper on the subject at all.