European Economic Community (Hansard, 10 June 1974)

§ 2. Mr. George Gardiner
asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will seek discussions with leading British exporters on the effect that a British withdrawal from the European Community would have on their European sales.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Trade (Mr. Eric Deakins)
I am ready to discuss export prospects with British industry at any time.

§ Mr. Gardiner
Is the Minister aware that there will be some surprise that such discussions have not already been taken further with exporting firms? Will he get his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to undertake to have discussions with ICI, whose chairman recently reported that his company's exports to the EEC increased by 63 per cent. during our first year of membership of the Common Market? I urge the Minister and the Secretary of State not to be deflected from having these discussions by the certain knowledge that the verdict that they will receive is that it would be disastrous for British exports and employment if we were to withdraw from the EEC.

§ Mr. Deakins
I shall deal first with the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question. I am aware of the claim that is made by the CBI. However, I think that British industry is sympathetic towards the Government's declared intention of getting improved terms. There is also the point that the views of the British people will have to be taken into account before the issue can be resolved.
I now deal with the first part of the hon. Gentleman's question. We have had discussions with the CBI representing British industry, but we are prepared in any particular case and in any particular market to have discussions with the exporting firms concerned.

§ 13. Mr. Blaker
asked the Secretary of State for Trade what assessment he has made of the likely effect on trade with Commonwealth countries which would result from British withdrawal from the EEC.

§ Mr. Shore
Such an assessment would be premature, but I have no reason to believe that our trade with Commonwealth countries would in any way suffer.

§ Mr. Blaker
Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether he has asked the Commonwealth countries for their views on the merits of Britain's remaining in the Community and whether any Commonwealth country has expressed a preference for our leaving it?

§ Mr. Shore
What I have discussed with a number of Commonwealth countries is the question of the access of their goods to Britain as a result of Britain's membership of the EEC. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that nearly all the countries to which I have spoken are very anxious that that access should be broadened and that Britain should therefore be able to achieve under this Government a fundamental renegotiation of the terms.

§ Mr. Churchill
The right hon. Gentleman seems peculiarly evasive this afternoon.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. That was a statement, not a question.

§ Mr. Churchill
Will the right hon. Gentleman now answer my hon. Friend's question, namely, have any representations been received from Commonwealth 1200 Governments requesting Britain's withdrawal from the EEC?

§ Mr. Shore
I think that Commonwealth Governments very correctly take the view that just as it would be improper for them to express the view that we should stay in so it would be equally improper for them to express the view that we should leave. What they wish to do is to leave it to the British Government to handle the renegotiations. They hope that their interests will be better looked after than they have been in the past few years and that the matter will be finally resolved by the British people.

§ 20. Mr. Moate
asked the Secretary of State for Trade when he next expects to visit Brussels to discuss British trade with the European Economic Community.

§ Mr. Shore
I have no immediate plans for trade talks with the Commission, but I hope to attend the meeting of the Council of Ministers on 25th June.

§ Mr. Moate
Does the right hon. Gentleman recall the recent statement by the French President and the West German Chancellor expressing opposition to the protectionist trade measures taken in the Community? If it should prove necessary to negotiate British withdrawal from the EEC, does not that type of statement offer further encouragement of the belief that free trade in Western Europe could be retained?

§ Mr. Shore
Regardless of the weight one puts on the declaration by the German Chancellor and the new French President, I have always taken the view that it is in the interests of all Western European countries, and, indeed, more widely, to establish as near as possible genuine free trade in the modern world. Whether Britain is in or out of the Common Market, I hope that we shall have success in the forthcoming multilateral trade talks and that we shall move forward to that international free trade régime which the hon. Gentleman wants to see.

§ Mr. Body
Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that in his talks with the OECD that opinion was expressed?

§ Mr. Shore
The OECD is very much in favour of creating and broadening 1201 international trade. We are pleased that in the past fortnight there has at last been settlement of the Article XXIV.. 6 negotiations affecting GATT, opening the way for the American trade reform legislation and, one hopes, the multilateral trade reform talks later this year.

§ 24. Mr. Marten
asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement about British trade with the EEC.

§ Mr. Shore
In January-April 1974, on a seasonally adjusted basis, exports to the other members of the EEC were £1,681 million fob and imports from them £2,310 million cif.

§ Mr. Marten
Is there any reason to expect that if we had a free trade area instead of the Common Market there would be much difference in our trade with Common Market countries? Is the Minister aware of the campaign that is being built up by the European Movement and its supporters in various places that for this country to withdraw from the Common Market would be disastrous to us? Is he further aware that the European Movement in Norway, and its supporters, said precisely the same and were proved wrong? Will the Government take action to counter this totally misleading propaganda by the European Movement and its many supporters.

§ Mr. Shore
The hon. Gentleman tempts me, and I shall yield to temptation. I deeply deplore the propaganda efforts that are being made to resurrect this European dogma. The people who embarked upon that dogma in the past did this country no service. I very much hope that in the period that is now beginning British industry will put far more effort into winning markets in Europe, whether in a free trade area or in the Common Market, than in trying to persuade the British people that it is in their interests to become part of a European union.

§ Mr. Jay
Will my right hon. Friend observe that with the original EEC Six —the great home market which we were exhorted to join—in the first four months of this year our visible trad': deficit has been running at an annual rate of £1,600 million a year.

§ Mr. Shore
I am only too deeply aware of that. This is part of a progression, 1202 from £500 million a year in 1972, to over £1,000 million a year in 1973, and at the rate of £1,600 million a year in 1974. One simple equation is that if any Conservative Front Benchers thought, during the negotiations, that we could somehow manage to shoulder the burden of our membership fees of the EEC out of the improved balance of payments position which they hoped we would get from our trade with the EEC, they must now be profoundly disillusioned.

§ Mr. Tom Boardman
Will the Secretary of State confirm, after the consultation which he has no doubt had, that British industry, almost without exception, is opposed to withdrawing from the Common Market?

§ Mr. Shore
It is typical of the hon. Gentleman to confuse British industry with the CBI. British industry also consists of many millions of workpeople, who do not take the same view about the advantages of membership of the EEC.

§ Mr. George Lawson
Will my right hon. Friend consult the steel industry before he says too much about the attitude of British industry? Is my right hon. Friend saying that the skill of British management and men is so inferior that we cannot stand on our own feet before the Germans, the Italians or anyone else? Why are we doing so badly, if my right hon. Friend is saying that we are doing badly?

§ Mr. Shore
I very much hope that we can and will stand on our own feet. It is like the old business of swimming the Channel. We are not afraid of swimming the Channel, but if we put the ball of the CAP round one ankle and our budgetary contributions round the other we should not be surprised if we sink.

§ Mr. Peter Walker
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that about one job in seven in British industry is dependent on exports to the Community? Is he aware that all his anti-Common Market remarks this afternoon are in complete contrast to the most recent statement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary?

§ Mr. Shore
I suggest that the right hon. Gentleman reads with rather more care what my right hon. Friend had to say.