HC Deb 13 March 1940 vol 358 cc1160-1
3. Mr. Hannah

asked the Prime Minister whether he can make any statement about present conditions in the provinces of Poland occupied by Russian troops?

Mr. Butler

My hon. Friend will appreciate that information about conditions in this area is necessarily difficult to con- firm. Such reports as have reached His Majesty's Government indicate, however, that, as a result of the Soviet occupation, they are gradually approximating to the conditions generally prevailing in the Soviet Union.

Brigadier-General Sir Henry Croft

Have we any representatives in Soviet Russian Poland?

Mr. Butler

We have a representative in the Soviet Union, and to that extent his advisers and staff would gradually get to know the circumstances in a certain territory.

Mr. Kirkwood

Would the right hon. Gentleman not tell this House that in our own country conditions are not so ideal that we can criticise the conditions of the working classes in every country under the sun?

Mr. Butler

Certainly, conditions are better here.