HC Deb 12 February 1986 vol 91 cc937-9
1. Mr. Chapman

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the change in the volume, value and types of goods and services exported to Japan in 1985, as compared with the previous five years.

The Minister for Trade (Mr. Alan Clark)

Information on volume of trade with individual countries is not available. Between 1980 and 1985 the value of United Kingdom visible exports to Japan rose from £597 million to £1,015 million, with textiles and chemicals preeminent. The latest available estimate of our invisible surplus with Japan is of £720 million for 1982.

Mr. Chapman

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend on his recent appointment. He will be aware, as the rest of us are, that our current trading deficit with Japan is now running annually at over £3,000 million, and that at least part of that is due to the Japanese failing to observe fair reciprocal trading standards. Does he not think that it is high time the Government consulted other countries in a similar trading position and insisted that the Japanese Government took more imports, and that there was a planned reduction in the imbalance?

Mr. Clark

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kindness. Certainly I share his anxieties, as I believe do right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the House. I appreciate his remarks about co-ordinating action with other countries. I had informal discussions with Commissioner De Clercq last week on this subject, and I shall be attending the Council of Ministers in Luxembourg next week, at which this subject will be discussed. The Community will be reviewing its policy towards Japan.

Mr. Beaumont-Dark

Will my hon. Friend accept my congratulations on his appointment? We know that he is someone who will stand up realistically for British interests in the highest tradition. When he is in Europe, will he tell the Japanese that we are tired of their promises, their hopes and their agreements? Will he explain to them that the nightmare of the Japanese destroying much of Europe's manufacturing base year after year must end, and that if they do not do it we shall do it for them?

Mr. Clark

Regrettably, many of the inroads to which my hon. Friend refers arise from the uncompetitiveness of European industry. Where it arises out of unfair practices, and where resistance to our import penetration into Japan arises from obstructions that are placed in the way of our trade penetration, there is an urgent need for action. The Japanese have introduced an action programme—

Mr. Skinner

Sold out to the Japanese.

Mr. Clark

Wait and see.

Mr. Skinner

Read it out.

Mr. Clark

I have not read anything yet. The action programme, so called, to which my hon. Friend has referred, and which the Japanese claim to be considerable, is the seventh of such promises that they have made. I admit that progress so far is extremely disappointing.

Mr. Skinner

Is the Minister aware that he is already showing signs of having thrown in the towel on the question of trade with Japan? We hear this afternoon the coded language of the Minister for Bongo-bongo land. Is he aware that I cannot congratulate him upon getting this post, because it is like the Prime Minister putting Herod in charge of Mothercare?

Mr. Clark

I appreciate the special relationship that I always enjoy with the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner). I take it as a compliment that he felt obliged to intervene as early as he did after my appointment, but he was making so much noise that he was incapable of listening to the answer that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Mr. Beaumont-Dark). When he reads it in Hansard, I hope that he will not be disappointed.

Mr. Holt

May 1 add my congratulations to those of other hon. Members and say to my hon. Friend that it might assist him in his new task if he held consultations with the Department of Education and Science on the subject of Japanese language teaching. According to a written answer to me, the Government do not know how much Japanese, if any, is being taught in our schools. Only four universities embrace the subject, but the Government do not know how many students are studying Japanese. If, instead of whingeing, we took on the Japanese on their own ground, learnt the language and sent out our entrepreneurs, engineers and technicians to Japan, our balance of trade would be very much better.

Mr. Clark

That is a very sensible suggestion. However, as my hon. Friend rightly says, it is better directed to those who are concerned with education rather than to my Department. One of the reasons for the overwhelming Japanese advance is that practically all Japanese business men can, when they choose to do so, speak perfect English.

Mr. Gould

Were our trading problems with the Japanese not resolved by the much publicised visit of the Minister's right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford (Mr. Tebbit) to Tokyo a year or so ago? What went wrong? Why did his visit not succeed?

Mr. Clark

I understand that Premier Nakasone has to face a general election in the autumn. It is generally recognised that the imminence of a general election inhibits long-term decision making.