Presumably this sudden desire by the Labour Party to speed
up the proceedings is due to the fact that the campaign against them in the country, so far from gathering momentum, is falling remarkably flat. The only point on which they seem likely to be able to concentrate any really damaging criticism is that raised in the House by Mr. Lawson on Tuesday afternoon—that " the amount fixed for a man and a wife is 24s. under the Unemployment Assistance Board, which is less than that granted to similar couples as unemployment benefit." But Mr. Ernest Brown was able to point out in reply that, in fact, for householders with dependants the basic figure for man and wife will not be 24s. but 26s. There will be. of course, the customary denunciations of the Means Test as such but the modification made in it will remove many hardships and in any case the battle on that question was fought out at the Election. The only substantial grievance in the Regulations is the fact that under the Unemployment Act of 1934, there can be no amendment to them. They must either be accepted or rejected. No argument, however powerful, can alter them by a comma. That kind of procedure gives to an Opposition a dangerous sense of futility, which may well find ex- pression in some ugly scenes during the debate.
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