TNAG-0302-FCO40-338-Effects-of-tariffs-on-imports-of-cotton-textiles-to-UK-from--1971 — Page 116

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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 merge as easily as possible into the EEC's quota arrangements with which

we should be required to conform from the beginning of 1973;

a future move to duty-free quotas should also be considered. following paper attempts to cover all the points raised at the

Secretary of State's meeting.

and that

The

ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENT SITUATION

2. The Textile Council's Report, published in 1969, set 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 size 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 halve, 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-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