Robot and After

Abstract

As soon as Parliament reassembled on 29 January, Butler made a statement announcing further measures to try to bring the balance of payments into equilibrium. Churchill had approved the measures at the first Cabinet on his return from America.¹ In his statement, Butler indicated that some of the measures to be taken arose from his meeting with Commonwealth Finance Ministers, who had come to London earlier in the month. In the second half of 1952, Butler, it was agreed, was to aim for a deficit of not more than £100 million with the rest of the world (excluding the sterling area); the Commonwealth countries and the colonies would provide the surplus of £100 million; and Britain would make up the difference by the supply of manufactured goods inside the Commonwealth. Some reduction of the defence stockpile of foodstuffs would be necessary, and the allowance of foreign currency to British tourists abroad would be cut to £25 a year. The food cuts would mostly be in the form of canned goods and certain fresh fruit, and there would be reduced imports of ‘clothing, carpets, shoes and toys’. There would also be cuts in government expenditure: the Civil Service would be reduced by 10,000; education would be cut by 5 per cent; and there would be a ceiling of £400 million on the National Health Service, which meant the introduction of prescription charges, dental charges and charges for surgical aids.