Import Duties

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 December 1973.

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Photo of Mr Roger Moate Mr Roger Moate , Faversham 12:00, 17 December 1973

It is obviously difficult to quantify these matters, but what is not in dispute is the fact that this order, certainly as it applies to lamb and other foodstuffs, will create an increase.

The Government are seeking to impose the order at a time when we should be avoiding increases of this nature. If the rest of the order were beneficial, and that were the single adverse point, I would still say that it was objectionable on that basis. If the Government say that that is unreasonable, I say that the procedure that brings forward an order of this nature, 722 pages long, incorporating many items of an objectionable nature, is also unreasonable. I do not think that the Government will be surprised to learn that many hon. Members on their side of the House cannot vote in support of something that imposes food taxes at this time.

The right hon. Member for Stepney (Mr. Shore) pointed out earlier the effect of the order on New Zealand. The New Zealand Meat Board Development Committee has given instructions to the meat producers to divert their supplies to other countries. It is possible that a major diversion would mean that the net price increase to housewives in this country would not be felt in the short term, but that is hardly an attractive alternative—on the one hand being faced with a price increase of 8 per cent., rising to 20 per cent.—that should not be overlooked—or, on the other, diversion of our traditional lamb supplies to other countries, including Japan, other parts of the Far East and other European countries. This diversion conforms with the direct public instructions of the New Zealand Meat Board Development Committee. I do not believe my right hon. and learned Friend's heart is in defending this order.

If that were the sole objection to the order, it would be enough for the House to reject it. But I also do not think that we should overlook the general significance of the order in its implications for our industrial tariff policy. We are moving towards a situation which is fundamentally objectionable to the philosophy that we have been pursuing for some years.

My right hon. and learned Friend argued that a reduction of tariffs was very beneficial to us in our trade with Europe, and that it would help us expand our opportunities within this large market, but if that is true for Europe, why is it not also true of the other markets with which we have habitually traded? Why are we using this opportunity to raise industrial tariffs—a fact that my right hon. and learned Friend cannot deny—on imports from many other countries?