European Affairs

Indeed. I should perhaps have said Bedfordshire; I stand corrected. If the deflationist tendencies in the eurozone continue, particularly in Germany, we could see uncomfortable parallels with the early 1930s and the Brüning deflation, to which the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Sir Peter Tapsell) constantly refers. He is wise and knowledgeable in these matters and he keeps drawing attention to the fact that what led to the rise of Hitler was the deflation in the early 1930s under the Weimar Government. That is the danger. We must have reflation, managed economies, intervention and a return to the kind of economic strategies that worked very well between 1945 and 1970. That was a world of full employment, growth, redistribution, growing welfare states and relative equality—a much better world than we have now. The present situation is insecure and frightening. A more democratic socialist approach to Europe, with individual member states managing their own economies, taking account of other countries' interests and working together co-operatively where appropriate, would be a much more sensible way forward towards a Europe that worked.