Questions for Tories
And there are other things which relate to the Government's record. What, in this crisis of the European Economic Community, when the indignation of the British people at price increases at least partly due to our membership of that organisation, does Mr Heath Propose to do about our situation in relation to our European partners? Is he content with the situation as it is, and with the terms he negotiated for entry into the EEC? Or is he Prepared to go to Paris and Bonn and Brussels again, and discuss a better deal for Britain? What of the Government's housing record, Which was the subject of a condemnatory motion from the Young Conservative Conference at Southport over the weekend? What does Mr Heath intend to do about his housing programme? And what of the balance of trade, of the Government financed inflation Which has hit every home in the country, large and small, rich and poor? Is Mr Heath Proposing, if returned, to continue the gamble for growth which has distinguished his last two years in office, and which necessarily involves just such inflation?
And there must certainly be some Conservative questioning about the nature of the Party's manifesto, for it is quite the most unspecific document of its kind for many Years. It is not clear from the manifesto in What general, let alone specific, way Mr Heath and his Ministers would approach the miners after a general election victory, while one of the very few hard proposals which the document contains — that to compel unions to use their strike fund to support the families of men taking industrial action — while perfectly logical in principle, is being advanced at a moment when it is bound to exacerbate rather than relieve the industrial situation. As Mr Jackson, the leader of the postal workers, and sorely the most moderate of union leaders, Observed, it is likely to be effective only against the weaker unions, such as his own, Which was once crushed in a confrontation With the Government not long after the last election. The miners, Mr Heath should remember, once stayed out for nine months Without any social security benefits at all.
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