CONFIDENTIAL
TEXTILE IMPORT POLICY
Report by DTI officials
At the Secretary of State's meeting with other DTI Ministers and officials on 28 October, it was agreed that the tariff on Commonwealth Preference Area cotton textiles should be introduced, as originally planned, on 1 January, 1972; and that the Working Party on Textile Policy should prepare a submission dealing with possible methods of containing textile imports. With Common Market in mind, it was suggested that the methods recommended for 1972 should be designed to norge es easily as possible into the EC's quota arrangements with which we should be required to conform from the beginning of 1973; and that a future Move to duty-free quotas should also be considered. The following paper attempts to cover all the points raised at the Secretary of State's meeting.
ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENT SITUATION
2.
The Textilo Council's Report, published in 1939, sat out what was essentially a blue-print for the restructuring of the Lancashire industry into an entity that would be fully competitive by European standards. The main elements in its forecasts were that between 1968 and 1975 the industry would contract considerably in sizo so that employment in spinning, doubling, weaving and finishing should fall from 125,000 to about 75,000 and the number of mills should fall from 715 to some 300. The numbers of spindles and looms in operation were forecast to approximately halvo, but by an increase in productivity at an average rate of roughly 10 per cent per annum production of spun yarn and woven cloth was expected to remain fairly steady. The share of the fabric market held by woven cloth, however, was expected to decline as that of knitted fabrics increased.' With these improvements in structure and efficiency, the Report recommended that in the long-