§ Major T. Coxasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give an assurance that a substantial number of the smaller factories, works and shops closed down during the war in North-east Cheshire, will be given licences to open-up again after the war, if the owners and workers so desire, and that preferential treatment in this respect will be given to ex-Service men and women.
§ Mr. DaltonI can assure my hon. and gallant Friend that factories and works in all parts of the country, including North-East Cheshire, will be allowed to re-open as labour, materials and premises become available and are not required for more urgent purposes. The claims of ex-Servicemen and women will be sympathetically considered. So far as retail trade is concerned, licences will, after the end of the war in Europe, be granted automatically to ex-traders (including ex-Servicemen and women) on the Board of Trade Register of Withdrawn Traders, to enable them to re-open their former businesses.