shrinkage is taking place at a time when there are not enough other jobs immediately available for those made redundant by
ill closures.
4 the restraints on exports of non-cotton textiles to the United States which several Asian countries have felt obliged to accept are likely to increase the pressure of textile importe generally on markets in Europe and in particular on the United Kingdom.
5
The consequences of our entry into the FC at the beginning of 1973 now have to be examined against this deteriorating and uncertain background. It has become clear from recent discussions with the Community that we shall at that point gutomatically become partics to the Community's restraint agreements with a number of our most important suppliers of cotton textiles. It follows that if we ended all our present quantitative restrictions next January we would, as Community members, be bound to face the re-introduction of a considerable range of restrictions only a your later.
We believe that the market would suffer substantial dislocation during that year as suppliers and users tried to adept both to the ending of controls and to the prospect of an early retum of controls.
G At a time when for this combination of ressons our market is peculiarly vulnerable, the Government have come to the conclusion that the policy previously announced of reintroducing quantitative restrictions selectively only if and when imports of rarticular products cause disruption, is unlikely to give the necessary stability of market and employment conditions. In particular, we do not feel confident that in a situation subject to vory rapid change, we could take setion against disruption quickl cnough on & product-by-product basis. Already we have evidence of orders in the pipeline, in anticipation of a quots-free market next peor, and a level considerably higher than this year's already high imports.
17 We have, therefore, decided to retuin in 1972 the prosent general system of quantitative restrictions in addition to the