TWO PARTIES TALK CATHOLIC VOTERS'

Labour and Tory reply to
C.H.' invitation
THE statements sent to " The Catholic Herald " by the Labour and Conservative parties have each reached us over the signature
of a well Catholic politician and writer.
As " The Catholic Herald " was not primarily interested in the views of any individual Cathode, but of the respective parties, we are not printing the names of the writers, and we have excised from the statements all personal references..
The Liberal Party's statement was published last week.
LABOUR
THE Continent of Europe since
the war has seen something new and, to many people, very surprising—the rise to power and to government of great confessional parties, primarily Catholic. It has happened in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland and, with qualifications, in France.
In Britain the position is different and there is no prospect, on the horizon of practical polities, of its changing—not unless some party were guilty of the gravest folly.
We have here by tradition a twoparty system. Even a third party with a great history, such as the Liberal, has the greatest difficulty in keeping going.
The Catholic and Christian voter has, then, for better, for worse, as a matter of fact to choose between these two. Labour and Conservative. if he wishes to he politically effective.
Specific Catholic interests. as for example that in education. have to be secured by political action.
There is no reason to suppose that Catholic schools will get any better deal out of Mr. R. A. Butler, were he Minister of Education, than out of Mr. Tomlinson, especially in view of the new and specific October offers of the Labour Party.
Whatever may now be said about improving the position of the voluntary school, reducing secular standardisation, giving parents freedom. and relieving the voluntary schools of crippling financial rabilities, the Butler Act certainly did not give Catholics what they wanted.
NOT MARXIST
THE Labour Party as such has never been and is not a Marxist Party. This has been stressed and emphasised in recent international conferences by both Herbert Morrison and Morgan Phillips. The Labour Party owes more to Keir Hardie than to Karl Marx. It was Keir Hardie who said that his
inspiration " derived more from the teachings of Jesus than from all other sources combined."
Actually, whatever may be thought on the Continent, an analysis of parliamentary lists will show more Catholic Labour candidates who have been selected for reasonably safe seats than Conservative Catholics.
The present Labour Ministry contains more Catholic Ministers, including the Lord Privy Seal and the First Lord of the Admiralty. than the Anglican-dominated Tory administrations of recent years.
There is no ground here for complaining of anti-Catholic prejudice. The Conservatives have got to show that they will offer a better deal.
Industrial, and so largely Catholic, Lancashire and Clydeside are more important to the Labour Party than they are to the Conservatives. The Catholic electorate, for a long present, will always have more weight with the Labour Party than with the traditionally Anglican Conservatives.
SPAIN, TITO
AT the international conference of primarily Catholic Parties at Bad Ems in Germany. Spain was represented by the Catholic Basque delegation.
If the Labour Party has moved cautiously, lest it compromise its anti-fascist integrity, in the matter of the Franco government which pestpones the obvious constitutional settlement with the royalists, it keeps good company.
On the other hand, it is up to Catholics to see that pressure is exercised on Tito's dictatorship, to give concrete benefits and freedom in return for services, while not driving Tito's countrymen on to the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. We are impatient both of the Red tyranny and of the black.
HOUSING
:THE mass of the Catholic voters of this country are weekly wageearners. Their concern is with im mediate social problems such as housing. Bad housing, like a mean means test, makes havoc in family life.
Labour policy has been based on a fair price. It has been steadily opposed to the policy of producing houses for private sale, " at what the market will hear," for those with the most money in their pockets and the smallest families. That Labour is not as much interested in middle class politicians, and more, in workers' housing, is contrary to common sense.
Within the last few days talk about " what we want is a spot of starvation " has been heard. Responsible Conservative leaders will repudiate this kind of thing with indignation. and that it shocks their conscience. But the fact remains that those who say these things do not vote Labour.
WELFARE
MANY a Conservative leader is now a convert to the Welfare State and to the decentralised cooperative principle. About these points indeed revolve the burning issues of our age. But those who are not converted—but who deeply believe in laisser-faire capitalism and in the maximum profit—are still, uncondemned, in the Tory ranks.
The Labour Party will always be that concerned with the fair price, not set just by the higgling of the market; with the condition of the nation and its workers; and with the dignity of the life of the common man.
Conservative
MOST electors will agree that this
country is in a parlous state. It is true there is not shortage of work, but the terrible housing shortage, the incessant rise in the cost of living and our dependence on American and other aid, add up to a picture which is not promising for the future.
The tremendous rise in the rate and number of divorces is a very complex subject that cannot be assigned wholly. to one cause. To some extent it is the aftermath of a war which so unsettled our people, but also, we are convinced, it is due to the inability of so many couples to get a home of their own.
A Conservative Government will not mean an automatic end to these
troubles. So great has been the damage to our position that it will be some time before any material Improvement can he expected. One thing is certain, however. Under a Conservative Government. pressing problems will be tackled at once, and means of relieving the pressure worked out.
THE FAMILY
After national defence, housing will be the first priority of a Conservative Government.
The published aim of the Conservative Party is to build 300,000 houses a year. That is slightly less than we were able to build before the war. but is half as much again as the Socialists are doing now.
This increase in building will be achieved through more efficient methods and by using the skill and energy of the building workers to the greatest advantage. The family is the rock upon which society is built. It is essential that the social services should aid family life without weakening family responsibility. To provide for the needs of the young people in the future. society must help the parents of today. Therefore, as economic circumstances permit. we shall try to relieve by tax adjustment the special burdens which fall on parents. But above all. the Conservative Party regards it as its first objective to ensure to every family a separate and proper home. Without a home. or the prospects of a home, independence and self-respect are impossible..
EDUCATION
R ISING costs and high building ' standards have added to the denominations' difficulties in applying for aided status for their schools.
Since the 1950 General Election, the Conservative Opposition has repeatedly urged the Government to find ways and means of easing the position of the denominational schools and we have repeatedly urged the need for a redefinition of the term " displaced pupil " so that the grant can be given when the new school has a substantial number of displaced pupils rather than when a particular old school has lost such a substantial number.
Finally, the statement of Conservative and Unionist policy, "Britain Strong and Free," states: " We shall discuss sympathetically with the Churches and with the other partners in education possible solutions of their present problems, within the framework of the 1944 Settlement."
You could not ask for a clearer undertaking.
DEFENCE
THE responsibilities of a British A Government do not lie entirely within the boundaries of domestic politics. Britain has world-wide defence commitments, and, to a great degree, her success in meeting them governs the security and standard of life at home.
Under the Atlantic Pact. which is the focus of Western plans for effective security, we shall make a full contribution of arms and men. So long as a threat of invasion of Western Europe continues. that threat must be met by organising a European forge containing contingents from all the countries to be defended.
There is a further shadow overhanging the European scene. The loss of political freedom imposed by force upon the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe cannot be taken as permanent. These people must be given the hope that a place awaits them among the free nations.
ONSERVATIVES believe that peace can be preserved by a firm foreign policy based upon sufficient strength and capable of inducing in others a respect for our position as a world power.
A British Government cannot legitimately interfere in the internal affairs of a friendly nation. and the Conservative attitude to Spain will be one of frienrAiness, a recognition that their system of government is their own affair.
It is absurd to have close friendship with Yugoslavia and be at daggers drawn with Spain.