§ 28. Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for India whether he has considered the implication of Point Three in the Eight-Point Charter signed by the Prime Minister and President Roosevelt in relation to India; and whether, in view of that declaration, he intends to take any further steps to implement the accepted principle of the right of all peoples to choose the form of Government under which they must live?
§ Mr. AmeryI would refer the hon. Member to the Prime Minister's statement on this subject when addressing the House on 9th September.
§ Mr. SorensenDoes the right hon. Gentleman appreciate the very great dismay with which this statement was received throughout the country, and that, in fact, numbers of people both here and in India want to know why it is that the principle should be applied to other countries and not to our own in this respect?
§ Mr. AmeryThe Prime Minister made it abundantly clear that the principles which actuated the development of self-governing institutions within the British Commonwealth are the same which underlie the Eight-Point Declaration in reference to other nations at the end of the war.
§ Mr. SorensenDoes that mean that the people of India will be able freely to choose their own Government?
§ Mr. AmeryThe declaration of August, 1940, made it specifically clear that it was for the people of India to frame the type of Government they want themselves. It also made it clear that as soon as agreement was arrived at on that point we should use our best endeavours to settle other matters in order to bring them to a conclusion.
§ Major-General Sir Alfred KnoxAre Questions like this likely to help the war effort?