§ Mr. Godman Irvineasked the President of the Board of Trade when he expects 60W to be able to remove the remaining controls on imports from Western Europe and the dollar area.
§ Mr. MaudlingWith effect from 9th November, most of the remaining controls on imports from the dollar area and also Western Europe and other countries in the so-called "Relaxation Area" will be removed. Copies of the detailed announcement which is being made today will be placed in the Library. We have been able to take this further major step in the process of dismantling controls because of the strength of sterling and of our underlying balance of payments position. A few restrictions will still remain on imports from these sources. Some restrictions are for security and other internationally recognised reasons. We intend to make further progress with relaxation of the other outstanding restrictions as soon as we can. In a few cases there will be problems which will take time to resolve.