The Labour Party Conference.
The Annual Conference of the Labour Party opened on Monday at Brighton. Nearly all the Government's statements of importance this week have been made to the Conference. No doubt the Conference provided a highly convenient opportunity, but the relation between the Party and the Cabinet is thus heavily emphasized. The extra-Parliamentary authority of the Labour Party, which in practice dictates programmes to the Labour Cabinet, is something to be watched carefully by con- stitutionalists. In a message to the Conference Mr. MacDonald said that the next session of Parliament would see " the development of a forward movement on the home front." The Government would have to deal with unemployment—" the most formidable task ever faced by a Minister "—housing, slum-clearance, pensions, the relief of trade unions from the desirabilities imposed Upon them in the last Parliament, and the coal industry, which must be " raised from the depths into which long years of drifting and blind policy have plunged it." Then Mr. MacDonald, rather terrified by his list of commitments, added i " I must ask you to give us a little tinie—time to study and devise ; time to lay secure foundations."
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