§ 14. Mr. JannerTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the current state of the hosiery and knitwear industry in Leicester.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe hosiery and knitwear industries continue to make a major contribution to Leicester's economic and industrial development. They continue to adapt to technological and other changes, to the further benefit of local and national economies.
§ Mr. JannerWhile noting the Minister's tribute to the hosiery, knitwear and textile industries may I ask him whether he recognises that there is still grave concern in those industries about the continuing recession and that there is also concern in my constituency about the redundancies in Coras? How many jobs have been lost in Leicester in the hosiery and knitwear industries in the last few years and what is the Minister proposing to do, if anything, to help those industries to survive in the light of the increased water charges that are now on the way?
§ Mr. ClarkThe hon. and learned Gentleman sometimes reproaches hon. Members for not addressing him as learned, although I do not think that he aspires to the sobriquet of gallant. As a man of the law, the hon. and learned Gentleman will know that there are many international restrictions. Trade in textiles is governed by treaty, by arrangement and by restraint arrangements.
§ Mr. SkinnerAnd the Minister does not like them.
§ Mr. ClarkI would tighten them up if I could. The hon. and learned Gentleman well knows that any interference with the flow of trade outside those limits would lay one open both to judicial review and to legal action by importers.