HC Deb 12 February 1957 vol 564 cc1072-3
42. Mr. H. Wilson

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the progress achieved in realising the cuts of £100 million in Government expenditure foreshadowed by his predecessor in April last.

Mr. Powell

I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to the reply which my right hon. Friend gave to the hon. Member for Govan (Mr. Rankin) on 29th January.

Mr. Wilson

Is not the simple fact that the whole operation to save £100 million of Government expenditure broke down, as we from the start told the House it would? Has it not now been replaced by an increase in Government expenditure of more than £100 million?

Mr. Powell

No; in fact, savings of over £93 million were attained. Had they not been attained, the supplementary requirements would have been so much higher.

Mr. Wilson

To take only one example, since the intended War Office savings of very considerable sums were never achieved at all—as the Secretary of State for War explained to us last week—because deliveries came along faster than he expected, are we to assume that any of the other claimed savings are any more real?

Mr. Powell

No, Sir—[Laughter.]—the vast majority of these savings, with the exception of £5 million in connection with the Suez operation, to which my right hon. Friend referred earlier, have actually been to our credit in the present financial year.

Mr. Jay

Can the Financial Secretary put the matter a little more simply and tell us how much more the Government have so far spent in this financial year than in the last?

Mr. Powell

If the right hon. Gentleman will look at the Supplementary Estimates he will see not only an answer to his question but also the effect of the savings to which I have referred.

Mr. Wilson

Instead of the hon. Member trying to cook up some more figures, will he inform my right hon. Friend that the increase this year over last year so far—in ten months—is £285 million?

Hon. Members

Answer.

Mr. Speaker

We are to debate this question later.