DISARMAMENT (Hansard, 2 March 1961)

§ 42. Mr. P. Noel-Baker
asked the Prime Minister if he will appoint a committee of British experts to prepare a detailed plan for general disarmament under international control to be submitted to the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth Governments and thereafter to the competent organ of the United Nations,

§ The Prime Minister
No, Sir. I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to the replies I gave to Questions by the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. G. M. Thomson) on 23rd February.

§ Mr. Noel-Baker
Does the Prime Minister recall that in September, 1959, before the General Election, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, then the Foreign Secretary, proposed the objective of drastic disarmament to the United Nations Assembly, which endorsed it? Does not he think that a British committee of experts might turn the Chancellor's generalities into a concrete, practical and realistic plan?

§ The Prime Minister
The proposal which I made last autumn is still before the United Nations. The proposal was that it should be a multilateral committee, because, after all, it was that system which led to the start of the nuclear test discussions; that was the parallel I had in mind.

§ Mr. Noel-Baker
I quite realise that the Prime Minister proposed an international committee, but would not it help that committee if it had before it a plan prepared by British experts covering both disarmament and control?

§ The Prime Minister
If an international committee came into being, certainly the British experts would prepare their contribution.

§ Mr. Gaitskell
May we take it that it is the desire of the Prime Minister that the British plan for disarmament, plus any modification which may be thought necessary, will be discussed at the Prime Ministers' Conference and an effort be made to secure the unanimous support of the Commonwealth for it?

§ The Prime Minister
What we would hope to do would be to try to get what I might call a common approach. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, it is not the practice for the Prime Ministers' Conference to commit itself to a precise or detailed plan, but I hope that as a result of our discussions we may get a common approach to this problem, which would certainly be of the greatest help when next we take it up at the United Nations.