Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy

The Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy was chaired by Lord Balfour of Burleigh

Alexander Bruce, 6th Lord Balfour of Burleigh

Alexander Hugh Bruce, 6th Lord Balfour of Burleigh KT GCMG GCVO PC DL JP was a Scottish Unionist politician, banker and statesman, who took a leading part in the affairs of the Church of Scotland...

from 1916 to 1918. Balfour instructed its members to "cast aside any abstract fiscal dogmas".

Background

The Paris Economic Conference

Paris Economy Pact

Paris Economy Pact was an international economic agreement reached at the Paris Economic Conference held in June 1916 in Paris, France. The meeting, held at the height of World War I, included representatives of the Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Italy, and Russia.The pact was intended to...

of the Allied Powers

Allies of World War I

The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

resolved to damage the Central Powers

Central Powers

The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...

economically. The Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

H. H. Asquith

Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916...

appointed the committee in July 1916 in order to implement the Paris Resolutions.

The committee included W. A. S. Hewins

William Hewins

William Alfred Samuel Hewins was a British economist and Conservative politician.Hewins was the son of Samuel Hewins, an iron merchant, and was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and Pembroke College, Oxford. He graduated with a degree in mathematics and later worked as a university...

(Conservative), Lord Faringdon

Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon

Alexander Henderson, 1st Baron Faringdon, CH , known as Sír Alexander Henderson, 1st Baronet, from 1902 to 1916, was a British financier and Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament.- Biography :...

(Conservative), Alfred Mond (Liberal), Lord Rhondda (Liberal), J. A. Pease (Liberal), George Wardle

George Wardle

George James Wardle OCH was a British politician. He was editor of the Railway Review and in 1906 was elected a Labour Member of Parliament for Stockport...

(Labour), and Richard Hazleton

Richard Hazleton

Richard Hazleton was an Irish nationalist politician of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He was Member of Parliament for North Galway from 1906 to 1918, taking his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.-Early life:The son of Thomas Hazleton, of Dungannon...

(Irish Nationalist).

Reports

The committee's interim report on certain essential industries argued for a Special Industries Board to scrutinise industrial development and promote the manufacture of strategically essential products. This Board should offer state support for efficient businesses but "failing efficient and adequate output, the Government should itself undertake the manufacture of such articles as may be essential for national safety".

The committee's final report dealt with the future of British industry both in commercial competitiveness and capacity for war:

It is in our opinion a matter of vital importance that, alike in the old-established industries and in the new branches of manufacture which have arisen during the war, both employer and employed should make every effort to attain the largest possible volume of production, by the increased efficiency of industrial organisation and processes, by more intensive working, and by the adoption of the best and most economical methods of distribution.
[And] it is only by the attainment of this maximum production and efficiency that we can hope to secure a speedy recovery of the industrial and financial position of the United Kingdom and assure its economic stability and progress.

Background

Reports

Further reading