§ Mr. Roger Kingasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will take steps to encourage Ford and Vauxhall to surrender unused Spanish import quotas to Austin Rover.
§ Mr. ChannonThe Spanish authorities have made no announcement of their allocation of the reduced duty quotas for cars. The details are therefore confidential to the Spanish Government and each company. Before the expiry of the 1983–84 quotas the United Kingdom pressed the Spanish authorities to carry forward and redistribute any unused allocations, and drew attention to Austin Rover's case for benefitting from this. No such carry forward in fact took place although Austin Rover did, we understand, receive an increased allocation. We intend to make similar representations to Spain before the quotas are next renewed.