HC Deb 13 November 1956 vol 560 cc733-4
23. Mr. Bottomley

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement about the Anglo-Australia trade talks.

The Minister of State, Board of Trade (Mr. A. R. W. Low)

My right hon. Friend made a statement yesterday.

Mr. Bottomley

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we have now had a chance of looking at the heads of agreement and the Annexes thereto? The 1932 Agreement made provision for tariffs and preferences to be arranged between Australia and Ceylon. It says that there is no difference as the result of a new agreement. Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether Ceylon was consulted or not? In Annex C, Australia is to supply 750,000 tons of wheat, or less, annually and we are to take it. Is it not a precedent that a group of private interests should determine whether or not an agreement entered into solemnly between two Governments should be re-negotiated or even brought to an end as a result of their action?

Mr. Low

I think that some of the points which the right hon. Gentleman has made are matters for debate or detailed questions. The position of Ceylon is not altered at all by this Agreement. I thought this was made quite clear. As to the position of the millers, there seems to me to be nothing wrong or peculiar in ascertaining from the millers what their purchases are likely to amount to and in making use of that information in the course of an agreement.

Mr. Bottomley

The right hon. Gentleman has not answered my question. I asked whether the Government of Ceylon had been consulted. Surely the right hon. Gentleman can answer that. On the other point, is it not a fact that this is the first time in any negotiations between two Governments when a group of private interests are allowed to decide whether or not the agreement shall continue?

Mr. Low

I have tried to make clear that the position of Ceylon is not in any way affected. As to the latter point, I have not been through all the former agreements to find out whether the right hon. Gentleman is right or wrong, but what I am clear about is that there is nothing wrong in what has happened, and nothing deleterious to the interests of this country.