§ 17. Mr. Blakerasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what evidence he has to show that the tariff advantages British industry enjoys in the Commonwealth are being eroded independently of any changes that might be attributed to our joining the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. John DaviesReductions in tariff preferences resulting from multilateral tariff negotiations, increases in protective rates and other changes in national tariffs.
§ Mr. BlakerIs it not true that, as Commonwealth countries have established their own manufacturing industries, they have progressively tended to protect them and that, because of the advantages which we have enjoyed in those countries in the past, this is a process which has been and is likely to be particularly prejudicial to ourselves?
§ Mr. DaviesThere are certain Commonwealth countries which have sought to protect infant industries in that way, but there may still be margins of preference in our favour. The same has happened in South Africa, which is not a member of the Commonwealth but is a member of the sterling area.
§ Mr. Biggs-DavisonHas not the mutually beneficial adjustment of the Ottowa preferences, which are long out of date, been frustrated by the working of the G.A.T.T. ban on new and increased preferences, and, with all the confusion in the Community and so on, is not the time coming for all these matters to be considered afresh?
§ Mr. DaviesYes, Sir, I have no doubt that it will be necessary to think carefully once again in relation to both these items and certain others when we see more clearly the progress of the negotiations in Brussels.