§ 40. Sir L. Plummerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are his plans for increasing the Treasury grant to the United Kingdom Branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
§ Sir L. PlummerRecently, the British branch of the I.P.U. sent delegates to the Warsaw Conference and, when the delegates were there, they were told that they would have their tourist fare refunded, not the full fare. Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that the reason is that the I.P.U. is hard up? Why should the prestige of the House of Commons suffer in this way? Cannot the Treasury afford enough money to see that our delegates abroad are treated responsibly and reasonably?
Mr. AmoryI have had no representations made to me by the British Branch of the I.P.U. on this subject.
§ Mr. ShinwellIs the Chancellor aware that when the British delegation on behalf of the United Kingdom Branch of the I.P.U. went to Nice for the preliminary conference before Warsaw, the Russian delegation and nearly all the other delegations stayed at the very best hotels whereas the members of the British delegation had to put up with second or third rate places because the Chancellor of the Exchequer would not provide the money? Indeed, we were put personally to very great expense ourselves.
Mr. AmoryI am very sorry to hear what the right hon. Gentleman has said, but again I would say that I have had no representations on the subject of the grant from the British Branch of the I.P.U.