HC Deb 03 February 1955 vol 536 cc1257-8
25. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the President of the Board of Trade what payments have been made to the United States of America during 1953 and 1954 for the exhibition of films in the United Kingdom.

Mr. P. Thorneycroft

£8.1 million and £9 million.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

Are not these figures rather extraordinary? They have been steadily going up since 1949. Is not this shocking waste of dollars on a lot of rubbish one of the reasons why the Government have not been able to restore our precarious gold and dollar reserves to the level at which they stood in October, 1951, when the present Government came to power, ostensibly for the purpose of restoring the gold and dollar balances?

Mr. Thorneycroft

I will not enter into the wider issues raised; but a lot of people in this country like to see these films.

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