§ Mr. Marlowasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many jobs could be created if policies were adopted to halve the balance of trade deficit in manufactured items with the rest of the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. Biffen[pursuant to his reply, 9 July 1980, c. 220]: I regret that it is not possible to answer this question without indicating which specific policies are adopted to have the desired effect. Even if appropriate policies could be defined, it would only be possible to make a quantitative estimate using a macroeconomic model. We are not able to carry out such work on the Treasury model for the reason explained on 14 November 1979 in the reply to the hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Leighton).—[Vol. 973, c. 622–23.]