§ 48. Mr. Parkinasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the disquiet caused by provisions in the Paris Agreements which permit the stockpiling in Germany of chemical weapons defined as expressly designed to use the asphyxiating, toxic, irritant, paralysant, growth-regulating, anti-lubricating, or catalysing properties of any chemical substance, and of biological weapons expressly designed to use harmful insects or other living or dead organisms or their toxic products, he will renew the pledge which he gave to the Soviet people through Marshal Stalin that if German forces used against them weapons prohibited under the 2061 Geneva Convention, British Forces would retaliate in kind against the German Forces concerned.
§ The Prime MinisterI cannot accept the premise of the hon. Member's Question. The Paris Agreements need cause no disquiet except to those who seek to destroy the unity and defensive strength of the free nations. The essential purpose of these Agreements is to provide for international limitation and control over the level of stocks of these as well as other weapons which may be held by member countries on the Continent of Europe.
§ Mr. ParkinWould the right hon. Gentleman look again at the annexe to the Treaty and address himself to the disquiet caused by the uncertainty about the provisions for stockpiling? Would he also bear in mind that stockpiling of this kind in Germany does make this country, in certain circumstances, the hostage of ex-Nazi military adventurers? So far as the second part of the Question is concerned, since he himself has recently called attention to this pledge in a diplomatic Note, does he not think that this is a very proper moment to renew the spirit of it in terms appropriate to the present time?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that the view of the Government is fairly and reasonably expressed in the answer which I have given to the Question. The supplementary question and the points it contains will also receive their due consideration.