HC Deb 18 December 1946 vol 431 cc1934-5
5. Major Tufton Beamish

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any further statement to make regarding His Majesty's Government's policy towards Rumania following his announcement that the elections were neither free nor fair, but involved wholesale falsification of the results by Government authorities.

Mr. McNeil

No, Sir

Major Beamish

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether, as has been alleged, all the newspaper correspondents present in Rumania during these elections have expressed the view that arrangements on polling day were satisfactory?

Mr. McNeil

No, Sir, that is quite untrue. There were many abstentions. There was only one British representative of a British newspaper who signed the declaration. He was Mr. Ivor Montague, of the "Daily Worker."

Mr. Gallacher

Is not the Minister aware that hon. Members on the other side are more concerned about oil than about democracy?

Major Beamish

Will the Minister send a copy of this Question and answer to the hon. and learned Member for North Hammersmith (Mr. Pritt)?

15. Professor Savory

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has now received a reply from the Rumanian Government to his representations regarding the falsification of the recent elections.

Mr. McNeil

No, Sir.

Professor Savory

Will the right hon. Gentleman demand an answer, and also call the attention of the Rumanian Government to the fact that, as the only two representatives of the Opposition have been compelled to resign, here again the Moscow Agreement has not been carried out?

Mr. McNeil

I suggest that our views have been made plain to the Rumanian Government.