Lord BRUCE of DONINGTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
To state, in respect of the period since the signing of the Treaty of Accession of 1972 to 31st March 1975, the estimated extra cost, to the nearest £100 million, of our imports from the eight EEC countries, due specifically to the depreciation of the £ sterling against the currencies of those countries during this period.
§ Lord BESWICKThe depreciation of sterling will have increased the cost of imports from the EEC as from other overseas sources since our accession. However, in that period they have been 1397WA affected by a number of economic factors, and there is no certain way of quantifying the specific impact of the depreciation of I sterling.