On Wednesday we had the second reading of the Finance
Bill, which would ordinarily have been a considerable parlia- mentary occasion. This debate aroused only a tepid interest. It was opened by Sir Kingsley Wood, followed by Mr. Pethick Lawrence, and the contact of these great minds is never likely to provide fireworks. Further, as Mr. Graham White pointed out, this is not a real Finance Bill in the sense of being an effort to provide for our national needs out of revenue. It is and can be no more than a temporary expedient for dealing with part of the situation. Such complaints as were made all came from the unusual conviction that the expenditure was too small. Mr. White aptly quoted the preamble to the Bill, " Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects . . . have freely and voluntarily resolved to give and grant unto your Majesty the several duties hereinafter mentioned." That expresses the mood of Parliament and the nation. General satisfaction was expressed that the Excess Profits Tax is to be at the rate of too per cent. on all businesses, and not only on those under Government control. It is felt to be intolerable that anyone should be better off in the course of a war which is bound in the long run to leave most people in a greatly inferior position.
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