HC Deb 14 December 1959 vol 615 c94W
69. Mr. Awbery

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why the United Kingdom representatives at the United Nations Political Committee voted on 7th December against the resolution urging the two parties to the Algerian conflict to begin informal discussions about conditions for self-determination and for a cease-fire as soon as possible.

71. Mr. Brockway

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the terms of the resolution on Algeria submitted to the Political Committee of the United Nations; which delegations voted for and against and which abstained; and how the British delegation voted.

Mr. Profumo

I have placed in the Library of the House a copy of the text of the resolution on Algeria on which the Political Committee of the United Nations was asked to vote on 7th December, and also a detailed analysis of the voting.

The United Kingdom delegation voted against the resolution because Her Majesty's Government believed that it would not help towards a solution of the Algerian conflict, quite apart from juridical doubts about Article II (7) of the United Nations Charter.