HC Deb 28 April 1947 vol 436 cc1524-5
45. Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre

asked the Prime Minister whether the views expressed by the President of the Board of Trade at Geneva on 11th April, 1947, now represent the export policy of His Majesty's Government.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee)

Yes, Sir. If the international negotiations now proceeding are successful, His Majesty's Government hope to base their export policy on the principles indicated by my right hon. and learned Friend.

Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyre

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the President of the Board of Trade said on this date, first, that His Majesty's Government have no objection to unrequited exports against payments from sterling balances and, second, that it was no part of the policy of His Majesty's Government to encourage exports to hard currency countries at the expense of soft currency countries? Does this mean that what the Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his Budget Statement has no relation to the policy of His Majesty's Government?

The Prime Minister

That is a complicated question, and I would like to see it on the Order Paper.

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