ABSTRACT
British policy on East-West economic relations has been influenced by the existence of a broad, stable consensus that trade with the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance countries should be maintained or promoted. Britain's desire to compete with other Western exporters also affected its policy on credit. Britain is distinctive from the other major West European economies in that is has less need to diversify energy supplies and was not importing Soviet natural gas in the mid-1980s. Britain's policy on Poland and the pipeline embargo was influenced more by relations within the West, than convictions about the importance of economic relations with the East. Consequently, Britain's position on sanctions must be seen as motivated more by a desire for Western solidarity as belief in the effectiveness of the economic sanctions. There are a number of qualifications to Britain's tougher stance on East-West trade.
