To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress made in the GATT Uruguay round.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement about the prospects for resumption of negotiations on the Uruguay round of GATT.

The Government greatly welcome the recent resumption of negotiations in the GATT Uruguay round. We hope that the negotiations can now be brought to a successful conclusion as soon as possible. We should like all parties to commit themselves to a deadline of not later than the end of the year.

When does the Minister believe that the European Commission will agree to a new negotiation position on agriculture? What is the United Kingdom's position on the reduction of subsidies for agriculture exports? Does the Minister agree with the Italian Trade Minister, who said that the system of negotiation in Europe is completely hopeless? If he does agree, what does he propose to do about it?

The hon. Gentleman may know that the Commission has accepted a work programme involving negotiations to achieve specific binding commitments on three issues—internal support, market access and export competition. That is what the United States and the major agricultural exporters wanted. I believe that the offer provides considerable scope for the negotiations to move forward to a successful conclusion as soon as possible.

As serious negotiations are not expected to start until June and may not be completed by the end of the year, does my hon. Friend agree that it would be appropriate to extend MFA 4 for a further 17 months? We should bear it in mind that the bilateral agreements that will run out at the end of the year essentially depend on MFA 4, which runs out at the end of July. Many of our European partners and the United States agree that there should be no further concessions on MFA 4. Does my hon. Friend agree that that should also be our position until the new GATT arrangement is entered into?

I assure my hon. Friend that serious negotiations are under way, although they may not bring in the most difficult political decisions until June. I also assure him that we all recognise the need to extend the multi-fibre arrangement in the light of the failure to agree in Brussels last December. However, I would not go as far as to say that an extension of 17 months would be justified now. It is important and necessary to bring the negotiations to a conclusion as soon as possible; there are dangers in not doing so. In those circumstances an initial extension of, say, five months would be more appropriate.

Given that 400 jobs a week have been lost in the clothing and textile industry in the past 12 months, will the Minister give a firm assurance along the lines of the one that he has just given? As textile workers are not only workers with a vested interest in the future of the industry but consumers too, will he make it clear that, if 10 Downing street or the Treasury has any thoughts about extending VAT to children's clothing, they will be strongly resisted by his Department?

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman recognises that all his textile workers, indeed all his constituents, are consumers, because consumers will be the main beneficiaries of a successful outcome to the Uruguay round. We recognise the importance of the textile industry and that is why we welcome the progress that was made last year in the negotiations on textiles, particularly the progress in providing better mechanisms and disciplines for the GATT round, which we have always said must accompany the incorporation of textiles into the GATT.