NO RECOVERY WITHOUT TAX CUT

Conservative View on Strikes

“Until you get some reduction of heavy taxation, I do not think the country will ever recover,” declared Miss Margaret Roberts, B.A., B.Sc., prospective Conservative candidate for Dartford, at Dartford on Tuesday.

The main part of Miss Roberts' address was taken up in seeking to prove that the Conservative Party's criticisms of the Socialist administration were not just “fairy tales,” and her first point was that the estimated figure of £75,000,000 losses on nationalised industries was not a “phoney” one. It was a figure by which the Conservative Central Office was standing, she said, and after showing how it was arrived at she quoted the following statement from the Central Office:—

“There is no truth in the statement published by “The People” to the effect that the leaflet recently issued by the Conservation Central Office is inaccurate. We estimate that the losses sustained by the nationalised industries are at least £75,000,000. We confirm the statistics quoted in the leaflet entitled ‘Messrs. C. R. Attlee and Co., General Jobbers.’ No official of the Conservative Central Office made a statement attributed to him by Norman Dodds, Socialist M.P. for Dartford.”

Unemployment

Another “fairy tale” was in regard to unemployment. A statement attributed to Lord Balfour of Burleigh in the economic debate had been wrenched from its context. He knew well the problems of unemployment and had said that he did not want anyone to accuse him of making mass unemployment. He did not recommend mass unemployment for industrial discipline. Lord Woolton had also repudiated the suggestion that the Conservative Party wanted it.

She asked the Socialists present to tell her any time when unemployment was higher when the Conservatives left office than when they went into it. They had always reduced it during their term of office.

“The original American loan should still have been lasting us,” continued Miss Roberts. “But it disappeared into thin air and Mr. Dalton had nothing but a ‘song in his heart’ to show for it. More help came in the shape of Marshall Aid, but once again what happened? We found that it was not enough. We are not closing the gap with Marshall Aid so where would we be without it?” asked the candidate.

“Officialdom”

The policy of over-spending, which brought about devaluation and a resultant increase in the cost of living, still persisted, she said. Part of the Conservative policy was to reduce administration costs and use the money to cut taxation.