Clause 3. — (Charge of Temporary Customs Duty.)

Part of Orders of the Day — Finance Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 December 1964.

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Photo of Mr Edward Heath Mr Edward Heath , Bexley 12:00, 1 December 1964

I know that the hon. Gentleman is taking this very seriously. All the facts and figures about the trade balances of individual countries are published regularly by the Board of Trade in the Board of Trade Journal. Every industry knows exactly what is happening in this respect. He cited the case of Japan. The Treaty of Japan, negotiated by my predecessor, was a balanced treaty which gave us very great opportunities, as well as giving the Japanese opportunities here, but constantly we have emphasised that our exporters have not taken advantage of these opportunities.

If the hon. Member looks back on the Board of Trade figures during the month preceding the election, he will see that the comments which were issued with those figures on each occasion were reported in the Press, and, within the scope of not being rebuked for exhortation, I said that what was essential was aggressive export selling and that this problem could never be dealt with unless this was done.