§ 2. Miss Burtonasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement upon the result of the representations made by him to the cotton industry concerning the establishment of agreed standards for cotton cloths and household textiles in accordance with his statement in the House on 12th November, 1953.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftAfter my statement in the House on 12th November, 1953, I held further discussions with the cotton industry in which I made it clear that the progress made fell short of the undertakings which had been given. It is now clear that the difficulties, technical and otherwise, of securing agreement on standards for cotton textiles had not been fully appreciated by the industry at the time they gave those undertakings.
§ Miss BurtonDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that whatever difficulties there may be the consumer always suffers, and that under this Government the Minister is not prepared to do anything more about it?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftThere is no doubt that consumers in this country have a wide choice of admirably manufactured textiles over a very wide range.