Steel Date Folly
The announcement that the Government has fixed February, 1951, as the date for taking over the shares of the 92 companies which are to be controlled by the new Iron and Steel Corpo- ration, while it imports no new element into the situation, serves to focus attention afresh on the almost criminal foil:- of the Government in determining to meddle, on purely doctrinaire grounds, with what is probably the most efficient industry in the country at the period of its maximum efficiency. The contrast between steel and any of the nationalisod industries in that respect is palpable, and to throw the in- dustry into confusion, and place it under a controlling body which can inspire no public confidence at a time when still further expansion in the interests of the re-armament pro- gramme is essential is to level a definite blow at national and European security. The Conservative Party is pledged to repeal the Iron and Steel Act on the first opportunity. No issue is likely to give it a better claim on the votes of the electorate.
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