§ 22. Amendment of the law
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That it is expedient to amend the law with respect to the National Debt and the public revenue, and to make further provision in connection with finance, so, however, that this resolution shall not extend to giving any relief from purchase tax otherwise than by making the same provision for chargeable goods of whatever description or by reducing the first, second or third rate of the tax generally for all goods to which that rate applies.
§ 5.27 p.m.
§ Mr. C. R. Attlee (Walthamstow, West)I should like at the outset to congratulate the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer on having got through the ordeal of presenting a Budget. That in itself is an achievement. He has been lucid, but I think he will agree that it is not a very easy Budget to sum up. It really requires a great deal more mental arithmetic than I am capable of working out as to what is given and what is taken away. We shall need a little time to work it out to see exactly what various individuals and groups of people stand to gain or lose and how these various burdens are distributed.
We note that the Lord President of the Council has been completely thrown over. His declaration at the time of the Election is now null and void and one presumes that he has tendered his resignation. It is also clear that whatever advantages may have been given to sections of the population, the halving almost of the food subsidies itself means a steep rise in the cost of living. I understand that the reduction of the cost of living was the chief plank in the propaganda of the party opposite at Election time.
There are a number of detailed matters which I confess I could not follow. The Chancellor of the Exchequer ran over pretty quickly a whole number of minor points, and I could not tell whether anyone would be for or against them. I regret that he has again raised the Bank rate. That increases our burden on the public debt. I gathered when he did it 1323 before that it was to have some psychological effect on the people at home. I gather from his speech that when he does it now it is to give a guarantee of good faith to our foreign friends. I think he will pay a big price for that.
Broadly speaking, this is a Budget in which there are good things, bad things and indifferent things; and until I have had a little more time to look at it, I am not making a final verdict about its total effect on the people with whom we are most concerned: the mass of the people of this country.
Chairman to report Progress and ask leave to sit again.—[Mr. Butcher.]
§ Resolutions to be reported Tomorrow; Committee also report Progress; to sit again Tomorrow.