36. Captain Duncanasked the Minister of Health how many dwellings were erected by the L.C.C. in the ten-year periods 1924–1933 and 1934–1943, respectively.
§ Mr. WillinkIn the ten-year period April, 1924, to March, 1934, 46,979 dwellings were erected by the London County Council. For the ten-year period April, 1934, to March, 1943,the figure is 33,836, of which 30,189 houses were completed before new housing operations were suspended in September, 1939.
Captain DuncanDo not these figures show that the statement made by the hon. Gentleman the Member for North Lambeth (Mr. G. Strauss) in the House last Thursday, that in the London area four or five times as many houses were built by a Labour majority as had been built by a Conservative administration, was quite in accurate?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member is anticipating the battle; it starts the day after to-morrow.
§ Mr. G. StraussMay I ask the Minister of Health whether in fact this comparison shows anything at all, because no houses were built after the war period; and whether the number of houses built in the London County Council area was four or five times greater under the Labour administration in the London area?
§ Mr. WillinkIf the hon. Member will look at my answer, he will find that I separated the period up to the time when housing operations were suspended and that the average number of houses built by the London County Council in the first ten-year period was 4,700 a year. The average built by the London County Council in the period from 1934 up to the beginning of the war was 5,509 a year. 1768 The hon. Member's statement in the course of the Debate was wholly inaccurate.
§ Mr. G. StraussIs the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that the figures he gives have no relation to what I was speaking about? I was speaking about the number of houses built in the London County Council area, in respect of slum clearance.
§ Mr. WillinkThe hon. Member did not say "the London County Council area"; he said "the London area."