§ Sir W. Bromley-Davenportasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in 1960 Great Britain had a substantial adverse trade balance with those countries which are the main exporters of bacon to the British market, namely, Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Poland; and whether, in view of the desirability of placing the British bacon industry on a permanently satisfactory basis, he will re-explore the possibility of placing some reasonable limit on the amount of foreign bacon which can be imported.
§ Mr. MaudlingIt is the view of Her Majesty's Government that our interests are best served by a multilateral system of trade and payments over the widest possible area. Under such a system the United Kingdom must expect to have adverse trade balances with some countries and favourable balances with others. As regards the second part of the Question, imports of bacon from Poland are limited by quota and it would not be consistent with our international obligations to introduce quotas for imports from the other countries referred to in the Question.