Means Test Prospects The Means Test was again discussed in
the House of Commons, during the debate on the Report of the Unemployment Assistance Board on Monday. The Government's refusal to give any information on the new unemployment regulations, and the irritation caused by the inexplicable delay, prevented any real discussion of the actual working of the Board, which can claim to have been, under difficult conditions, humane and sympathetic. But its report arouses uneasy sus- picions that the new regulations will, in many cases, mean a reduction of benefit. It will be unfortunate if they are not issued before Parliament goes into recess and are put into operation some months before they can be debated. If the reductions are severe they will arouse great discontent, especially in the depressed areas. The Government might well consider whether, though the principle of the individual means test must be maintained, the household means test does not cause more injustice and indignation than it is worth. In spite of the Board's defence of the family means test in the report, its unfortunate effects on family life are undeniable, and they are the more serious because they are felt most in the depressed areas, where economic conditions have already done much to break up the home.
* * *
Previous page
