§ Mr. Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to what extent foreign and hard currency has been earned by this country as a result of petrol rationing and shortage of petrol arising from the Suez Canal crisis by virtue of Her Majesty's Government restricting the use of petrol at home by rationing and taxation and thus enabling British oil refineries to refine and export petrol to countries overseas for foreign currency.
§ Mr. BirchPetrol rationing was introduced to ensure a fair distribution of the supplies available to the United Kingdom under the arrangements made within the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. It is not possible to isolate the effect of the measures taken on the United Kingdom's balance of payments.