§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the effect on different sectors of the United Kingdom economy of linking the £ sterling to the deutschmark within the exchange rate mechanism of the European monetary system;
(2) whether the Government have considered the effect which locking sterling into the ERM of the EMS would have on United Kingdom trade in manufactures; and if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the percentage increase in the volume of imports and output between 1973 and 1979, 1973 and 1988 and 1985 and 1989 to date in textiles, footwear, clothing, metals, metal goods net, motor vehicles and mechanical engineering, together with the figures for import penetration from the EEC for manufactures generally.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answer 15 November 1989]: The Government have made no such assessment. The available figures for the percentage increases in import volumes and output in United Kingdom manufacturing industries are as follows:
Percentage changes Output Import volumes 1979–85 1979–87 1979–85 1979–87 Metals -15.4 -8.1 -0.7 11.3 Metal goods nes. -18.5 -16.0 37.8 63.6 Mechanical engineering -14.9 -17.1 18.3 28.7 Motor vehicles and parts -24.6 -20.5 18.6 28.6 Textile industry -19.1 -15.5 29.7 49.3 Footwear -20.2 -18.8 34.0 49.4 Clothing, hats and gloves 0.1 -0.1 16.8 60.5 Data on EC countries' imports of manufactures are published in OECD's "Monthly Statistics of Foreign Trade". Data on manufacturing output in EC countries are published in OECD's "National Accounts" and can be expressed in the same currency (United States dollars) as the import figures using data from OECD's "International Financial Statistics".