§ Mr. Patrick Wallasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the number of Soviet-manufactured cars that have been imported into the United Kingdom; what effect this has had on British Leyland; and how much British credit facilities to the USSR have been used for the export of British cars to the USSR.
§ Mr. MeacherDuring the first 10 months of this year United Kingdom imports of passenger motor cars from the Soviet Union numbered 6,748. This had little effect on the United Kingdom motor vehicle industry as a whole. The Government are, however, keeping a close watch on shipments from the USSR and the other Eastern European suppliers.
The Soviet market offers little potential for United Kingdom vehicle manufacturers, and United Kingdom exports of passenger cars are negligible.