§ 23. Mr. Blakerasked the President of the Board of Trade what were the factors causing the 8 per cent. increase over 1967 in the 1968 volume of imports compared with the 4 per cent. increase in the gross national product between the same years.
§ Mr. CroslandImports generally rise faster than the gross national product, particularly in years of above average growth like 1968. There were also exceptional imports last year of diamonds and silver.
§ Mr. BlakerIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the case of the United States, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands the volume of their imports over the 10 years up till 1967 increased faster than the volume of our own imports? Does this not suggest that the solution to our problem is to be found not so much in cutting down imports, but rather on the export side?
§ Mr. CroslandI would broadly agree with the hon. Gentleman. What is peculiar about our balance of trade, compared with other advanced industrial countries is, as he rightly says, the failure of exports to rise as fast, not the fact that imports have risen unduly fast.
§ Mr. BarnettWould my right hon. Friend care to comment on the document, reported to be circulating round his Department, about the reason why imports have been increasing steadily over recent years? Would he care to publish the document for the benefit of the public?
§ Mr. CroslandA great number of admirable and carefully thought-out documents circulate round the Board of Trade at all times. In so far as there is any document, or might be a number of documents, on this subject the Answer which I have given this afternoon crisply summarises their arguments.
§ Mr. PeytonWill the right hon. Gentleman be particularly careful about the use he makes of the term "gross national product", as this is one of the terms by which the Prime Minister is now affectionately known?