And upon what objects and policies do we propose to spend the extra revenue which this Budget will unquestionably yield in future years?  People talk vaguely of the stability of society, of the strength of the Empire, of the permanence of a Christian civilisation.  On what foundation do they seek to build?  There is only one foundation—­a healthy family life for all.  If large classes of the population live under conditions which make it difficult if not impossible for them to keep a home together in decent comfort, if the children are habitually underfed, if the housewife is habitually over-strained, if the bread-winner is under-employed or under-paid, if all are unprotected and uninsured against the common hazards of modern industrial life, if sickness, accident, infirmity, or old age, or unchecked intemperance, or any other curse or affliction, break up the home, as they break up thousands of homes, and scatter the family, as they scatter thousands of families in our land, it is not merely the waste of earning-power or the dispersal of a few poor sticks of furniture, it is the stamina, the virtue, safety, and honour of the British race that are being squandered.

Now the object of every single constructive proposal to which the revenues raised by this Budget will be devoted, not less than the object of the distribution of the taxes which make up the Budget, is to buttress and fortify the homes of the people.  That is our aim; to that task we have bent our backs; and in that labour we shall not be daunted by the machine-made abuse of partisans or by the nervous clamour of selfish riches.  Whatever power may be given to us shall be used for this object.  It is for you to say whether power will be given us to prevail.

But they say, “This uncertainty about the Budget is causing unemployment; you are aggravating the evils you seek to remedy.”  The Budget has not increased unemployment.  Unemployment is severe in the country this year, but it is less severe this year than it was last, and it is less severe since the Budget was introduced than before it was introduced.  The proportion of trade unionists reported to be unemployed in the Board of Trade returns at the end of September was 7.4 per cent., and that is lower than any month since May 1908, and it compares very favourably with September of last year, when the proportion was not 7.4, but 9.3 per cent.

I can well believe that the uncertainty as to whether the House of Lords will, in a desperate attempt to escape their fair share of public burdens, plunge the country into revolution and its finances into chaos—­I can well believe that that uncertainty is bad for trade and employment, and is hampering the revival which is beginning all over the country.  I do not doubt that all this talk of the rejection of the Budget is injurious to business, to credit, and to enterprise; but who is to blame for that?  When did we ever hear of a Budget being rejected by the Lords before?  When did we ever hear of a leader