HC Deb 01 March 1960 vol 618 c1027
41. Mr. Stonehouse

asked the Prime Minister if, at the forthcoming meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers, he will propose a Commonwealth scheme for assistance, including resettlement, to the white minorities in Africa.

The Prime Minister

No, Sir.

Mr. Stonehouse

Would the Prime Minister agree that, while all of us would accept that those Europeans who accept democracy should be perfectly free to stay in these Territories, there is a fearful problem building up for Europeans who will not accept individual political equality? Is not that a problem in which the British Commonwealth could help?

The Prime Minister

I do not quite understand the motive behind this Question. It seems to me that any other answer than the one I gave would be the abandonment of the whole concept of partnership between Africans, Europeans and Asians, and would involve economic disaster for all the Territories concerned.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

In considering these matters, should not we remember that some of these white minorities, patronisingly referred to in this Question, are longer-established than some of the surrounding African tribes?

The Prime Minister

Indeed. All over Africa; sometimes for generations and sometimes for centuries, they have often settled on land which, when they arrived, was without population.