Devaluation of the pound from £1 = $4.30 to £1 = $2.80
DEVALUATION EXPLAINED: The pound becomes worth less in dollars etc. It was done to
boost exports and reduce the balance of payments problem It meant making the £ (sterling)
worth less. In this case, the UK would export more because it would cost them less e.g. for
$43 they would get £10 of goods; after devaluation, for $28 they would get £10 of goods,
thereby encouraging them to export more and resolving the balance of payments crisis
Cripps as Chancellor
Cripps Budgets
Petrol rationed and taxation ensured that many if the
small cars being produced went for export and the
£30 currency limit made any foreign travel difficult
Cloths were "utility" ware and the national
appearance similar in many respects to that
associated with Eastern Europe under Communism
The standard rate of income tax
remained at 45%, but surtax was
payable on top this by the wealthy
A bachelor lucky enough to
have an income of £10,000 per
annum kept £3501 of it after tax
Taxes on beer reached record levels in
1948, seven times what it had been in 1939
Cripps needed the high revenue, not only as a way of controlling domestic
spending, but also to fund the foreign policy commitments referred to above and
the escalating costs of the health service, which far exceeded expectations
Cripps had to encourage production to
rise, but the products should primarily be
for export to cover the necessary imports
Cripps hoped to encourage such trends
through budgetary methods rather than the
physical controls of rationing