HC Deb 23 May 1968 vol 765 cc859-61
Q1 and 2. Mr. John Fraser

asked the Prime Minister (1) whether he will appoint a Minister for Exports in the House of Commons;

(2) whether he is satisfied with the co-ordination of the Treasury, Board of Trade, Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Technology in promoting the sale of British goods and services abroad; and if he will make a statement.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)

My right hon. Friend the Presi- dent of the Board of Trade, who is in charge of the export drive, answers in this House for all aspects of his work. I am satisfied that the measures of coordination are working well, Sir.

Mr. Fraser

In view of the outstanding success which the work of various Ministers has already had in promoting exports, is there not a case for expanding the Overseas Marketing Corporation, or establishing a British export corporation which would have a direct link with advisory and commercial activities of the Government?

The Prime Minister

The new Corporation is getting into its stride and doing very useful work which can be only an adjunct to the normal work of British industry in its exports. It is certainly the case that export orders are developing extremely well although there are certain sectors of the economy where I do not think any of us can feel too satisfied about the amount of work being put in.

Sir D. Renton

Is the Prime Minister aware that the only years when we have had a trade balance in our favour were 1822, 1956 and 1958 under Conservative Governments—[Interruption.]—a visible trade balance? The prime need now is to save imports and the best way of doing that is to stimulate home agriculture very much more than the Government are doing.

The Prime Minister

Without going back with the right hon. and learned Gentleman into ancient history, I would certainly agree, of course, that it has been extremely rare that on direct trade account we have been in surplus, but the most recent time was in fact for a few months around the end of 1966 and early 1967, which again was a very short period. Certainly we are now, and have been for several years, accounting by our exports for a much higher proportion of imports than we were before the war. This is certainly true and it has been for some 10 or 12 years, but I agree with the right hon. and learned Gentleman about the need to save imports. One of the anxieties of the last few months—I would not exaggerate it—has been the success of overseas suppliers, despite the differential advantage following devaluation, in exporting more to this country.

Mr. Sheldon

Although it was expected that the level of exports would take a long time to rise after devaluation, it was expected that imports, in particular manufactured imports, would fall rather earlier, but in fact that has not happened. This is rather disquieting. Will my right hon. Friend turn his attention to this?

The Prime Minister

This is the point I was trying to deal with. Probably my hon. Friend could not hear me because of the noise made by hon. Members opposite. I said that there was some anxiety about this and, despite the differential advantage on prices following devaluation, some overseas suppliers have been energetic in actually encroaching on our market when the effects of devaluation should be that our own manufacturers should be pressing much harder to capture markets normally supplied from abroad.

Mr. Heath

How many of the Bland Committee's 40 recommendations to help invisible exports have been implemented other than the one to set up another committee? When are the Government to implement the one extending Selective Employment Tax rebate to earners of invisible exports?

The Prime Minister

I could not say without notice how many of those 40 recommendations have been implemented, but the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, I think, of the very big increase in invisible earnings over the last few months despite the difficulties in relation to the Suez Canal. The question of S.E.T. is a matter better left to those of our colleagues dealing with the Finance Bill.