Working Party (Cripps)

Scope and Content

The Cotton Industry Working Party set up by the President of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, in September 1945 to investigate methods of modernising the cotton industry. It was composed of employers, trade unionists and independent experts, and was chaired by Sir George Schuster. The Party reported in May 1946, proposing reforms in the supply of textile machinery, introducing new types of labour utilisation, extension of technical research, and co-ordination of the new policies by a 'Cotton Council'; though members remained divided on other issues. Albert Knowles was the Amalgamation's member on the Working Party. The file consists of correspondence, UTFWA's memorandum to the Working Party, cuttings and circulars relating to its work, a copy of Cripps' speech to the cotton industry in December 1946.