§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he is aware of the closure of the Grafton Manquest Clothing Manufacturing Company of Bury St. Edmunds; if he will publish the representations made to him last March by the Clothing Manufacturers Federation about the dumping of clothes from East European countries; why, by 10th January 1977, he had taken no action and sent no reply; what further representations he has received from the Federation and the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers; and if he will make a statement on the talks he is currently holding with them.
§ Mr. MeacherI have heard of this closure from a recent Press report, though no information is available as to how far it was caused by import competition or by recession or shifts in demand on the domestic market. A summary of the anti-dumping application by the Clothing Manufacturers Federation was published in "Trade and Industry" on 1st October 1976. The representations made in March contained insufficient information to allow a proper assessment of the case. Since that time there has been continuous correspondence and frequent discussion between my Department and the Clothing Manufacturers Federation, and our preliminary findings in the case were discussed with the Federation two days ago. A representative of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers accompanied an all-party delegation on textiles with which I discussed the problem on 27th July. The result of the application will be made known shortly.