TNAG-0389-FCO40-435-Visit-of-trade-mission-of-the-London-Chamber-of-Commerce-and-1973 — Page 54

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I have no doubt that it is the intention of the British

Government to continue to do all in its power to protect

the interests of Hong Kong within the EEC : and in doing

so it will have the warm support of the London Chamber

and of all in Britain who do business with Hong Kong.

In any case it seems to me that elaborate calculations by

learned economists of how much Commonwealth countries may

lose through tariff changes in Britain and so on always tend

to miss the point that what matters most is the prosperity of the market with which you are trading. That is why I

have always been convinced that Britain would prove a better

market for Commonwealth countries inside the Community than

she has been outside it : and I might add that it is one

main reason why I am a convinced supporter of British

membership of the Community.

Mr. President, I am very conscious of the fact that as a

trading partner, Britain continues to be the target of much

criticism. This is indeed something I have lived with for

a long time, since I spent the last ten years of my Government

service mainly concerned with overseas economic and commercial

matters. It would be absurd to pretend that there is nothing

in the familiar complaints about late deliveries, inadequate provision of spare parts, and so on. We have had for years

far too many strikes and we have paid the penalty of these

failings in your market, as in others.

I would just like to say this. I honestly believe that such troubles in Britain tend to get more publicity than those of

other countries. It seems to be the ingrained habit of the

British press to play up bad news about Britain.

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