§ 51. Mr. Shinwellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on whose authority Lord Keynes disclosed the loss of foreign investments and the amount of our foreign indebtedness; and whether he can explain why these figures were refused to hon. Members.
§ Sir J. AndersonI am not aware that Lord Keynes in his remarks to the Press on 7th July, gave any figures which have been refused to the House. In my Budget Speech I stated that we had parted with overseas assets to the extent of £1,000,000,000 and had incurred undischarged overseas liabilities amounting to £2,000,000,000. I added that this was not the end of the tale. Lord Keynes, as I understand it, carried forward his estimate to the end of 1944, but as his figure included an estimate of our pre-war liabilities while mine did not, the two figures are not strictly comparable.
§ Mr. ShinwellWhen, some time ago, I ventured to ask the right hon. Gentleman for an estimate of our total indebtedness at the conclusion of the war, he told me that it would not be in the public interest to give it.
§ Sir J. AndersonLord Keynes has not given an estimate of the total indebtedness at the end of the war.
§ Mr. ShinwellHas not Lord Keynes disclosed in his recent statement that his estimate of total foreign indebtedness at the conclusion of war would be 12,000,000,000 dollars or £3,000,000,000?
§ Sir J. AndersonNo, Sir, not at all.
§ Mr. ShinwellOh, yes.
§ Sir J. AndersonHe was dealing with the position at the end of this year, which was a very different matter.
§ Mr. ShinwellI thought the war was going to be over this year.