§ 28. Mr. Roy Jenkinsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made with the negotiations for a European Free Trade Area drive since, on 13th February, he was charged with co-ordinating the work of three Organisation for European Economic Co-operation committees on the subject.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Peter Thorneycroft)Much valuable work has been done, and the hon. Member may rest assured that all practical steps to assist the progress of negotiations will be taken.
§ Mr. JenkinsBut even assuming that the Chancellor's Answer meant anything, is it not clear that the Common Market core is becoming increasingly rigid, that the signatories are increasingly less anxious to change anything, and that we are now in a position where it is very difficult for us to change the core and very difficult for us to fit ourselves around it as it exists? What is the Government's policy? Do they still propose to go straight ahead with the Free Trade Area plan, even if the French and Belgian Colonies are in on the present terms?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftThat seems to be of the nature of a commentary upon events.
Mr. H. WilsonSince we have been asking the Chancellor for a statement about this matter ever since the Paris meeting, will he not, perhaps after Questions one day, make a fuller statement about what happened there and about what the Government's policy is? Secondly, is it or is it not the case that, as was authoritatively stated after the recent meeting in Bonn, the Prime Minister and the German Chancellor agreed to "soft-pedal" work on the Free Trade Area for some time until the ratification of the Common Market Treaty?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftI should like to emphasise that there is no soft-pedalling going on. There is a great deal of very hard work going on, and I think that it would be better for it to be completed before any statement is made.