HC Deb 12 March 1959 vol 601 c1450
47. Mr. Jay

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of increasing unemployment in recent months, if he will reconsider his decision not to lower the age for release of post-war credits by five years for both men and women.

Mr. Simon

My right hon. Friend has noted the right hon. Member's suggestion, but he cannot anticipate his Budget Statement.

Mr. Jay

Will the Financial Secretary also note the great merit of this suggestion in that it would preserve the principle of age for release of these credits and also produce a large release in the present year when the Government have created extreme depression in the country?

Mr. Simon

Without in any way accepting the last part of that supplementary question, I shall at any rate undertake to bring the observations of the right hon. Member to the notice of my right hon. Friend.

Lieut. -Colonel Bromley-Davenport

Are not the present figures of unemployment a mere bagatelle—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—when we think that during the tenure of the recent Socialist Government unemployment rose to between 2 million and 3 million?