 In the election of 1950 he lost his Blackburn seat, but shortly after was elected in a by-election to the Yorkshire seat of Brighouse and Spenborough.In the reshuffle caused by the resignation of Sir Stafford Cripps as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and held the post until the government lost the election of 1951.In opposition he became Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, and a member of the British parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe from 1955, where he was elected in 1957 as vice-president and in April 1959 as President of the Consultative Assembly.