§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the light of the fact that under the present economic situation, if continued in the future, there will be a disappearance of the balance of payments' surplus including the benefits of North Sea oil by 1982, what action he has taken or intends taking to change this situation.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe trends that led to the past worsening of our economic situation were, above all, inflation and poor relative industrial performance. We have reduced inflation, and it will come down further. We launched the industrial strategy to improve industrial performance. Rising manufacturing investment and our increased share of world exports of manufactures in 1977 show that we can succeed.