Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Commerce – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 28 November 1961.
Would my hon. Friend bear in mind that timber is the largest single commodity import, in value, of the United Kingdom, and that as practically all the timber that we bring in is applied either to house building or to the packaging of British exports, it is a wholly out-of-date and fallacious policy to place an import duty upon it? Would not my hon. Friend undertake to examine the timber tariffs carefully and individually with a view to securing their elimination?