Part of Orders of the Day — Finance Bill – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 17 Gorffennaf 1974.
Mr Edmund Dell
, Birkenhead
12:00,
17 Gorffennaf 1974
There is at present considerable demand overseas for the products of British industry, with the result that British industry is increasing its exports. It is helping us to deal with the non-oil deficit, which, fortunately, is falling. That is what I meant by saying that there is demand. We know that there are fears about the rate at which world trade may expand in the future, but at present we are seeing in our exports an increase which is of great value in helping with our balance of payments problem and is reducing our non-oil deficit.
A further point on the availability of money to companies to finance their activities is the situation in regard to bank lending. There continue to be large, un-drawn facilities and, so far as we know, no exceptional calls are being made on bank facilities at the moment. These are average statements. They may be misleading in respect of particular companies, but we have asked the banks to look at the problems of particular companies.
The right hon. Gentleman put the problem on the basis, "Should we take £300 million this year at the expense of next year?" We believe that, given the current liquidity position in the company sector, we can justifiably take the £300 million this year without doing any harm to the company sector, and we have decided to do so this year. I hope that he will accept, on looking at the facts and figures, that that was not an unreasonable decision.
The hon. Member for Cornwall, North has a very much more Machiavellian interpretation of our actions. He believes that we are sucking the company sector dry to make it ripe for nationalisation. If he believes that, he will believe anything. There is no truth in it. We have to ensure success for the private sector of the economy if we are to have success for the Government and for the country. There is no question about that. Even to imagine that to be the policy of this Government is an absurdity.
I hope that now that the right hon. Member for Carshalton has heard my explanation he will join some of his backbench colleagues in agreeing that he should not recommend his right hon. and hon. Friends to vote in favour of this Amendment. This was a decision reasonably taken to help with a public sector borrowing requirement which we inherited. I am sure that the Clause will be necessary, whatever my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the exchequer rises to say next week.
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
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