ate Government's Defeat
The Government has suffered an earlier and a heavier defeat than anyone seriously expected. It is not, of course, a resignation matter. The Conservatives are not to be credited with such irresponsibility As to seek to force a political crisis less than a month before the Budget. On the other hand, the division, formally on the question of the adjournment, was by no means a mere technicality. It was the result of profound dissatisfaction with the refusal of the Govern- ment, through the Minister of Fuel and Power, to make any concessions whatever in the matter of petrol rationing. That is a Subject on which Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd, who dealt with it for the Opposition, is extremely well-informed, and since Wednesday's vote was in effect a majority declaration in favour of increased Petrol the Government will clearly need to reconsider its policy 'on that question. But the defeat raises one serious problem. It has injured the Government's prestige, and Mr. Attlee and the +`tillips cannot risk a repetition. That means rigorous party disci- pline, and insistence that no Member shall be absent from the House during any important sitting except for the most urgent reasons. The strain such an arrangement imposes is severe, and life for any :Labour Member who has a trade or profession to carry on will be almost impossible. In the case of a man like Mr. F. A. Cobb it has been shown to be tragically impossible. Parliamentary govern- ment is not meant to be conducted under these conditions. Party Iwarfare there must be, but if, as is to be assumed, the Conservatives do not want an election at present, some general understanding between the two Front Benches must be reached.
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