§ The Minister of Labour (Mr. John Hare)With the permission of the House, I would like to make a personal statement about the meeting which I attended in my constituency last Saturday afternoon. At the end of the meeting I was asked a question which suggested that the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference should itself decide by a majority vote whether or not Britain should agree to join the European Economic Community.
I pointed out in my reply that the United Kingdom had the obligation to secure terms which safeguarded the essential interests of the Commonwealth, our own home agriculture and our partners in the European Free Trade Area, but, at the same time, the decision as to whether we should join or not must rest with us.
In making my reply— as has been accurately reported in the Press— I drew on the analogy of the Commonwealth as a family of nations. I would never wish either to seem patronising or to say anything wounding to any country in the Commonwealth. On reflection, it is clear to me that what I said on the spur of the moment could be, and, indeed, has been, interpreted in a sense that I certainly did not intend.
Both as a Member of this House and as a private citizen I have always endeavoured to promote the interests of the Commonwealth. I therefore take this opportunity of expressing my deep regret to any in the Commonwealth who may have felt hurt by what I said.