§ 91. Professor Savoryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is now in a position to make a statement with regard to his refusal to agree to the Soviet claim for reparations from Germany of 10,000,000,000 dollars.
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. McNeil)In the course of the discussions in the Council of Foreign Ministers my right hon. Friend said that the only agreement regarding reparation from Germany which His Majesty's Government accepted was that in the Potsdam Protocol. At the final meeting my right hon. Friend stated formally that His Majesty's Government did not agree with M. Molotov's interpretation of the Potsdam Protocol in regard to reparation, and that he would be circulating a paper to the other Governments in due course setting out the British point of view. This 862 statement is now being prepared and will be circulated to the other three Governments through the diplomatic channel as quickly as possible.
§ Professor SavoryCould not the hon. Gentleman point out that if 10,000,000,000 dollars of reparations were accorded to Russia there would be nothing whatever left for any of the other Allies?
Mr. McNeilI would like to feel that that was a line of argument we could pursue. While I do not want to enter into details, our statement did amount to a refutation of the Russian claim.