HC Deb 19 July 1967 vol 750 cc2114-5
80. Mr. Frank Allaun

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give an assurance, that in the negotiations for British entry into the European Economic Community, he will ensure that textiles from Common Market countries will not be admitted into the United Kingdom until reciprocal arrangements have been agreed to for the admission of British textiles into the Common Market.

Mr. Jay

This would follow from the application of the provisions of the Treaty of Rome.

Mr. Allaun

Is the President of the Board of Trade aware that recently the deputy-head of the cotton employers said that this would be the fate of Lancashire exports and that European manufacturers were pressing the same point? Is that correct?

Mr. Jay

Of course, the tariff arrangements under which one would under normal circumstances enter an agreement with the E.E.C. would be reciprocal and operate in the same way in both directions.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

What did the right hon. Gentleman mean in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucestershire, South (Mr. Corfield) when he said earlier that the reports of his alleged White Paper were almost without foundation? Is there a draft of such a paper in existence and when is it to be published?

Mr. Jay

I meant exactly what I said. The hon. Member appears to be just as gullible as his hon. Friend.

Sir K. Joseph

The Minister is escaping the question. Following on the Question asked by the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Frank Allaun), is a White Paper to be published on the implications of joining the Common Market?

Mr. Jay

The hon. Member ignores the Answer, and the question he now asks is a different one from that on the Order Paper.