He has not made a single contribution of any sort or kind to the economic thought of our time, at a time of National Economic Crisis and emergency.
The Minister suggested in the course of his speech that we, on our part, had to call a halt in 1949 to the development of this service for what he hinted were reasons of National Economic Crisis.
Whatever one may think of that, there is one thing, as the Chancellor will agree, which needs to be emphasised and reemphasised - to his credit, the hon. Mem-ber for Louth (Mr. Osborne) has emphasised it for many years - that This National Economic Crisis which has been with us now for 11 years can be solved only by hard work, by restraint, by sacrifice, and, above all, by the sacrifice of self-interest to the national interest.
If any trade union official wants an object lesson on how to extinguish the income guiding light, all he needs to do,I am sorry to say, is to read the history of the judges' trade union activities in the National Economic Crisis of 1931.
At a time of Grave National Economic Crisis, it is not only risky but extremely dangerous.
We have had two scandalous Price Reviews - one which was not agreed with the N.F.U., and the other which was agreed only because, as the N.F.U. said, of the Grave National Economic Crisis with which we were faced.
Only on Thursday last, when we had heard so much about the National Economic Crisis and the need for pulling together and helping the country out of its difficulties, the hon. Member for Chippenham (Mr. Awdry) asked the Prime Minister:In view of the Prime Minister's appeal yesterday for national support for his measures and the obvious need for that national support, will the right hon. Gentleman think again about having the Second Reading of the Iron and Steel Bill next week, in view of its controversial nature"?
When the Prime Minister talked about a National Economic Crisis he stampeded the country away from the truth.
I have demonstrated—I believe to the satisfaction of the House—the consequence of carrying these amendments, and I ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton, who still maintains pretensions to exercise Government responsibility at a time of National Economic Crisis, to reflect on the profligacy to which he may condemn the country if he presses the amendment to a vote.
At a time of Great National Economic Crisis it is irresponsible to advocate higher expenditure without suggesting how it should be paid for.
I am convinced that at this moment the British people are prepared to make just such a national response to a National Economic Crisis.
The common ground must start with the fact that this country faces a National Economic Crisis.
At a time of National Economic Crisis it is right that those who have the broadest backs should make a fair contribution to the national sacrifice.
The cuts in 1976–77, announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget last April, have been applied in Northern Ireland through the public expenditure survey system, and I believe it is generally accepted in Northern Ireland that the Province must expect to play its part in solving the National Economic Crisis.
Although, like the hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell), I admire the British Civil Service, may I ask the Minister what possible justification he has for increasing the number of civil servants by 32,000 in the past 12 months in view of the National Economic Crisis and the crippling levels of taxation in this country?
This is quite important, and, in a time of National Economic Crisis, we should not underrate what can be done in rural transport, if we could get some of the present laws on transport altered and made more flexible, and in social services for the young and old.
A time of National Economic Crisis is a testing time for the whole community.
We deplore that at a time of Great National Economic Crisis we should be wasting our time on a Bill which not only will cost more money to the National Health Service and cause it to lose fees but is a petty and vicious political act at a time when so much needs to be done within the NHS.
The severity of the National Economic Crisis that now besets the country has been gravely worsened by the Government, and not only in national economic terms, because the Government have introduced specific measures that have harmed the house building and home owning industries.
It has wholly changed the nature of their financial planning and has been a feature of the National Economic Crisis.
By that I mean local authority land, land in new town centres, council house sales, and all areas where the public sector can contribute to the solving of the National Economic Crisis.
So in all these ways there is a discretion in the hands of the Secretary of State which could be used to counter the National Economic Crisis but which is not used because of the right hon. Gentleman's preoccupation with other matters.
The result, at a time of National Economic Crisis, is the spectacularly complacent and irrelevant Gracious Speech, which begins:My Government will pursue policies designed to increase economic prosperity and to reduce unemployment.
To conclude, we have a very Serious National Economic Crisis.
With or without a National Economic Crisis, the operation of EMA is far from perfect.
Obviously, when taken against the National Economic Crisis that we are dealing with, these various precise sums will always be able to be argued away as almost too trivial to worry about.
But we cannot let this debate pass without saying once again that there is a National Economic Crisis - I shall not be party political about how it arose - and whoever was in government now, Labour, Conservative or any possible combination of parties in coalition, would have to make reductions.
I absolutely applaud the measures that the Government have taken over the past couple of years, not merely to bring the National Economic Crisis under some kind of financial control, but to make specific improvements to local government in the hope of making it more relevant, more accountable and more autonomous.