§ 67. Mr. Pannellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in any call-up of men to the Armed Forces, he will take steps to ensure that any decision taken by His Majesty's Government to make up 1539 the balance of civil pay to the Civil Service will also extend in a similar manner to the advantage of all other employees, in view of the fact that failure to do this caused much discontent during the last war.
§ Mr. GaitskellI would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Sudbury and Woodbridge (Mr. Hare), on 28th November, 1950, to which I have nothing at present to add.
§ Mr. PannellDoes my right hon. Friend appreciate that any decision that is ultimately made on this will, if the Government give the lead, also affect the staffs of local authorities and the nationalised boards? Would he agree that it is undesirable in any future emergency that the sort of situation we saw in the last emergency should take place and men in the Services should be rated and taxed to make up the civil pay of people often very much better off than themselves?
§ Mr. GaitskellI think this is an extremely complicated and difficult question, but the Government are considering it and we will make known our decision in due course.