TNAG-0872-FCO40-1082-Legislation-for-employment-in-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 22

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29 JUNE 1979

deep and continuing resentment in the West Riding.

whereas the United Kingdom applied about 75.

When I was a Minister I said that workers in Hong Kong were exploited. I am happy to say that that caused enormous ructions in the Hong Kong Assembly. Members went berserk when they heard that a United Kingdom Minis- ter had said that. Apparently we were supposed to keep our mouths shut and ignore the differential system of employ- ment between the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

The position is the same in South Korea, where employees work long hours and there is little labour legislation. The trade union movement is virtually non- existent, as are the rights of workers. We want to ensure the addition of a social clause to a selectivity provision so that we may say The United King dom market is open to you to a reason- able degree. We want to help you, but at the same time we want to ensure that minimum levels of employment legisla tion are applied in your country, so that workers are not exploited in the grossly offensive way that often happens in coun- tries such as South Korea and Hong Kong." All these matters must be part of the continuing negotiations.

We are grateful for the Government background paper. I regret that a copy was not in the Vote Office, as the Minis- ter claimed. Apparently it was in the Library. I do not know at what time it was available in the Library, but it was not there early this afternoon.

The

Minister will therefore appreciate that I have not had time to absorb all the documents on this complicated matter.

The Minister said that the final text, when agreed, would be an important document. He is absolutely right. Will he bring to the notice of his right hon. Friend the Leader of the House the need for a further debate on the final text? I hope that this is a preliminary debate on that route.

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I have received representations from the West Riding wool and textile indus- try. I hope that the Minister will not mind my using the words West Rid- ing". They were deleted from our lan- guage by executive fiat of a previous Conservative Government. That caused

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The West Riding wool and textile industry was greatly concerned at the tariff that it faced in America. Accord-

ing to paragraph 12 of the background paper, the tariff on woven woollen cloth of over $9 per pound is to be reduced from 44.4 per cent. to 33 per cent. We have a good trading relationship in many areas with America. If we reach multi- lateral arrangements which are to our reciprocal advantage, all well and good. However, we must ensure that we do not grant concessions, without reserving rights of our own, to a point where our indus- try is severely damaged. We have gained a tariff reduction of about 11 per cent. However, the West Riding textile indus- try still faces problems over outward processing, on which the EEC Commis- sion appears not to be acting with suffi- cient speed. Although we made a mod- est gain, there is still the problem of outward processing.

I agree with my right hon. Friend on the question of the renewal of the multi- fibre arrangement. It may be that as the notion of international competition and free trade is still echoing around, somehow the MFA talks appear to be some time away. The Minister should be well prepared for the MFA renegotia- tions. If not, the Commission might well try to spring on him the kind of measure it sprang on the previous Government. It tried a number of dodges to reduce the standards. We sternly resisted them. It is to the credit of the previous Govern- ment that the MFA is so strong and gives greater quota protection than ever before.

The MFA must continue. We do not expect a guarantee of the exact area of quota protection or quota coverage to be given. Confidence would be given to the industry if the Minister said that when the MFA came up for renewal it would be part of the Government's stance to maintain an adequate position for the industry, so that it could have confidence that it would not simply disappear under a huge pile of imported sensitive items and become extinct. I hope that the Government are concerned to renew the MFA when it comes up for renewal in two years' time.

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