§ 3.30 p.m.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford Cripps)The experiment which we tried last year of debating the Economic Survey for the year together with the Budget was sufficiently promising to merit repetition this year. I propose, therefore, to deal with the Economic Survey for 1949 this afternoon in addition to my Budget proposals.
It has now become generally accepted that our finances are so closely linked with our economic situation that we must frame our Budget with the fullest regard to our economic plans. I propose, therefore, to deal first with some of the more important aspects of the Economic Survey before I come to the traditional method of dealing with our financial position and my Budgetary proposals.