§ 21. Mr. Swinglerasked the President of the Board of Trade the constitution and composition of the International Consultative Group Co-operation Committee, of which the United Kingdom is a member-State; and the extent to which its decisions on trade with the East are binding on Her Majesty's Government.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftThe Consultative Group consists of representatives of the Governments of the United States, Canada, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Western Germany, Norway, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The Group is essentially an informal consultative body without executive authority, and the Co-ordinating Committee and the China Committee are component parts of it.
On the second part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Board of Trade, on 28th October.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs the Minister aware that I have already sent him several examples of hundreds of goods being exported to China and other Eastern 1126 countries while, at the same time, he is forbidding British manufacturers to make similar exports, and that if he so desires I will send him several more examples? Will the right hon. Gentleman make an urgent inquiry into this situation, because it is quite clear that both Germany and Japan are exporting steel and chemical products on a large scale?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftI am willing to receive any examples which the hon. Member or anybody else wishes to send me. The fact is that this Committee is specially designed to see that we all coordinate our policy in this respect.