§ 2.35 p.m.
LORD INGLEWOODMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost of producing and publishing The Plan and You issued by the Department of Economic Affairs, and how many copies it is intended to issue.]
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, the estimated cost of producing the first issue, based on a print order of 50,000 copies, is £736. In addition, the cost of postage and distribution is estimated at £711.
LORD INGLEWOODMy Lords, bearing in mind the fact that this broadsheet is little more than Election propaganda, and is in fact even set out like an oversized Election address with a photograph of the candidate in the corner, will the Minister give an assurance that this cost will be debited against the Election expenses of Labour candidates in whose constituencies this broadsheet is to be distributed, or tell us whether it is all going to be debited against those of Mr. George Brown?
§ LORD SHEPHERDNoble Lords are rather brittle this afternoon. The noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, does not seem to see the difference between Election propaganda and material required to ensure an understanding by all workers and management of the necessity to improve productivity, imports, and exports. In regard to the noble Lord's allegation that this is Election material, I would tell him that this was designed before 1100 Christmas and was issued on February 24, prior to the date of the announcement of the General Election.
LORD INGLEWOODMy Lords, if this leaflet contained nothing but information such as the noble Lord described, it would not have met with criticism from any quarter. As it is, any noble Lord who has read it will see that it is utterly unworthy of any British Government.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, the noble Lord must get his facts right. My understanding is that we have received 3,584 replies in response to the distribution of 30,000 copies, and of those replies 14 were criticisms. Most of them, however, were to the effect that they did not apply to the writer's industry.
§ LORD ST. HELENSMy Lords, since there is no mention in the Manifesto of the Socialist Party of the Prices and Incomes Bill in the forthcoming Parliament, can we take it that the Government will withdraw this document and have it correctly reproduced?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, the noble Lord again is wrong. The Government do intend to bring legislation forward; my right honourable friend has made that perfectly clear. There is no need to alter our Manifesto in any respect. I would say to the noble Lord, taking into account what this document intends to obtain, that we shall produce it immediately after the Election.