term the best form of protection against cotton textile imports would be tariff protection alone and that consequently the quota restrictions on imports from low-cost countries could be discontinued and a tariff should be imposed on imports from the Commonwealth Preference Area. This it was argued would reduce the price disruptive effect of low cost duty free imports and stimulate changes in the patterns both of imports and home production which would encourage the Lancashire industry to concentrate on the areas in which it could be genuinely competitive. The plan therefore prescribed a period of considerable change and modernisation with the prospect at the end of achieving a stable situation for the industry. The Council did not, however, specify precisely when the changeover from quotas to tariff protection should take place but did suggest that a transitional period would be needed before reliance on tariffs alone could be accepted. Subsequently it was agreed with the Textile Council that quotas should be terminated at the end of 1971.
3. We are now almost half-way through the period of ex; tod restructuring and at the point where the change in import policy is due to take effect. Up to the beginning of this year, the restructuring of the industry had been taking place more slowly than was necessary for an even progression towards the achievement of the Textile Council's targets, but since then there has been e considerable acceleration in the run-down of employment and the closure of mills to the point where they must now both be virtually back on course although the signs are that the looked for improvements in productivity are not being realised.
The
run-down in itself is not undesirable, but the fact that this acceleration has come at a time when unemployment generally is high and the prospects of alternative employment less good thon formerly and also during the period when we are approaching the change in inport policy has tended to make the more vulnerable sectors of the industry more nervous, to increase the pressure for
Government action to arrest the trends and to focus attention on
import policy as the supposed cause of the industry's present
problems.”
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