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 there- fore 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 expected
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 a 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 than formerly
and also during the period when we are approaching the change in
import 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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