HC Deb 10 April 1962 vol 657 cc1132-4
Q2. Mr. Healey

asked the Prime Minister what date he has suggested to other Commonwealth Prime Ministers for a meeting to discuss Great Britain's negotiations for entry to the Common Market.

The Prime Minister

I would refer the hon. Member to the Answer which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Chigwell (Mr. Biggs-Davison) on 5th April.

Mr. Healey

Is the Prime Minister aware that that Answer does not bear in any way on the subject of my Question? Why is he so furtive about this? Cannot he tell the House what date Her Majesty's Government are proposing for this meeting? Can he assure the House that he is not proposing a date in September, in view of the fact that the Australian and Canadian Governments have already asked for an earlier meeting, and that it is highly desirable, as I think hon. Members on both sides of the House agree, that this House should have a chance of discussing the proceedings before we adjourn for the Summer Recess?

The Prime Minister

The Australian and Canadian Governments have not made any such request. I have made that proposal, to which the great majority of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers have replied. One or two have not replied, but their difficulties have nothing to do with the timing of the Conference in relation to the negotiations, but simply with those that naturally arise from the many existing or prospective internal commitments. I think that it would be discourteous of me, when I have made a proposal to the twelve Prime Ministers, and one or two have not yet answered, to make a final announcement until I have had all their replies.

Q4. Mr. H. Wilson

asked the Prime Minister if, in view of the further consultations he has now had about the forthcoming Commonwealth Conference, he will now give an assurance that no irrevocable decision will be made about the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community until he has satisfied himself that the conditions negotiated are generally acceptable to a Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference.

The Prime Minister

The Government have undertaken that no agreement with the European Economic Community affecting the special interests of the Commonwealth will be entered into until it has been approved by this House after full consultation with other Commonwealth countries. This undertaking was accepted by the House following the two-day debate last August.

Mr. Wilson

That does not answer the Question. Will not the right hon. Gentleman at least give an assurance that he will not make a proposition to this House for entry into the European Economic Community until that proposition has been broadly agreed—we do not say that it should be agreed in every detail—by a Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference?

The Prime Minister

I think that "broadly agreed" is a very vague term. I should think that the right hon. Gentleman has some experience of that. I have given the fullest undertakings about consultation with the Commonwealth, and about putting our proposals before the House. I do not think that it does service to the Commonwealth or to this House to give undertakings about what our proposals will be in hypothetical circumstances. We do not yet even know the result of the negotiations at Brussels, or what will be the Prime Ministers' reactions.

Mr. Wilson

But cannot the Prime Minister say why, having given this promise to the E.F.T.A. countries—which we applaud—he will not give the same promise to the Commonwealth? Is he not aware that there is widespread feeling about these negotiations in the country, on both sides of the House, and in the Commonwealth? There is nothing hypothetical about the matter, after the Prime Minister's Stockton speech. Will not he, therefore, think again about it and give the same assurance to the Commonwealth as he has given to E.F.T.A.?

The Prime Minister

The position is quite clear not only to the Commonwealth countries, with whose Prime Ministers I have been in communication, but to everybody here. The first thing to do is to see how these negotiations develop, and then what are the views of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers. It will then be the duty of the Government to make proposals to the House, and in the light of what we learn we shall make those proposals. It will then be the duty of the House to form its own opinion of them.

Mr. Gaitskell

Does the Prime Minister seriously contemplate going into the European Economic Community on terms which are not broadly agreeable to the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth? If this is not the case, why cannot he give the undertaking required?

The Prime Minister

I am not prepared to be caught by a question which is so framed as not to correspond to realities.