To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's trade balance with other EU member states was in 2006-07; what the UK's trade balance with those countries in goods and services was in that year; and what proportion those figures represent of the UK's overall trade balance in each case. (167787)

The UK had a total trade deficit of £32 billion with the EU27 in 2006. This was made up of a trade in goods deficit of £32 billion and a trade in services deficit of just £6 million. The UK's total trade deficit with the rest of the world was £48 billion in 2006. This was made up of a trade in goods deficit of £78 billion and a trade in services surplus of about £29 billion.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's trade balance with other member states of the European Economic Community (EEC) was in the first 12 months after the UK joined the EEC as expressed in the value of the pound in 2007; what that balance was in (a) trade in goods and (b) trade in services; and what proportion these figures represented of the UK's trade balance in each case. (167788)

The UK had a total trade deficit of £2.2 billion (1974 prices) with the EEC in 1974 (the first year after joining in 1973). This is based on IMF data, which do not give a breakdown between goods and services, or allow for the figure to be expressed in the value of the pound in 2007. This is 33 per cent. of the total trade deficit the UK had with the entire world, which was £6.7 billion.