33. Mr. Vaneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what items of dollar expenditure he is expecting to see reductions in order to meet the increased cost of oil from dollar sources.
§ The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Nigel Birch)The extra burden of buying non-sterling oil is one which we must meet by expanding our export trade.
Mr. VaneDoes my right hon. Friend mean that when dollars are short for essential commodities, apart from oil, no effort whatever will be made to cut down the spending of dollars upon any commodities which we can comfortably do with less of?
§ Mr. BirchMy hon. Friend will appreciate that imports have to be paid for, wherever they come from, and the object of the Government's policy is to improve the general trade balance.