STRATEGY FOR MACMILLAN
SIR,—Indeed. why not expansionism plus im- port control, as Sir Robert Boothby suggests? (Spectator. January 6). Restrictionism may well throw out the baby as well as the bath- water; and let us not be doctrinaire' about the 'dash for freedom.
And why not incentives for exporters? At the present time the Government has no policy for stimulating exports except negatively by reducing domestic purchasing power. Is this good enough, when our reserves are running low, when our share of world. trade is dwindling, when it really is 'export or die'? There must be many firms today, particularly small firms, which could export goods which they now sell to the home market; but there is no incentive for them to do so.
As I understand it, the Government's atti- tude is that this country is pledged (OEEC and GATT) against the use of export subsidies. Yet recently the Government very reasonably granted certain tax concessions to Lloyds underwriters for the purpose of encouraging them to earn dollars by insurance business in America. Is there any distinction between visible and invisible exports when it comes to export incentives, and is it beyond ingenuity to contrive some analogous tax advantages for other or all exporters?—Yours faithfully.
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