§ Q2. Mr. Martenasked the Prime Minister if he will define Ministerial responsibility for Aden.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is the Minister responsible for the affairs of Aden.
§ Mr. MartenIs the Prime Minister aware that the Minister responsible for the policy of quitting Aden without a defence agreement is causing a great increase in terrorism in Aden itself and also is directly responsible for unleashing a great terror compaign by Egyptian forces in the Yemen, amounting to bombing and possibly the use of gas? Would he reconsider his Arabian policy and refer this Yemen problem to the United Nations?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not accept in the slightest the hon. Gentleman's suggestion about the cause of the terrorist campaign in Aden, which has been continuing 243 for a very considerable time. The decision of the Government was debated and endorsed by this House, and hon. Gentlemen opposite really cannot go on every day talking about reducing Government expenditure and insisting on spending large sums of money on bases where we do not have the support of the local population.
With regard to the hon. Gentleman's further point about the Yemen, I very much agree with his concern, although not with his explanation of the causation. Such evidence as I have suggests pretty strongly that poison gas may have been used. This is a matter of deep concern, and it is a matter for Saudi Arabia, if she desires, to raise at the United Nations.
§ Mr. Sydney SilvermanWill my right hon. Friend arrange for the Foreign Secretary to give the House a much fuller and clearer explanation of the situation in Aden, which appears to many of us to be full of anomalies? In particular, will he say how many British troops are on active service in Aden, and in what circumstances they or any of them are subject to the civil courts in Aden administering laws other than English laws?
§ The Prime MinisterI will draw my right hon. Friend's attention to what my hon. Friend has said. If the House is desirous of having more information on this question, I am sure that my right hon. Friend would wish to give it. There are certainly some apparent anomalies which my hon. Friend has raised on a number of occasions, though I think the position there is clear. It arises to a considerable extent from the confusion over the position of Aden as a Colony and the position of South Arabia as a whole.
§ Mr. HeathWill the Prime Minister recognise the deep and genuine anxiety that what has been happening in Saudi Arabia in the last few days, with Egytian bombing, will happen to the Federation if we withdraw without a defence agreement, and that it is not enough to make debating points about Government expenditure? This is a very real anxiety, and will the Government take it into account?
§ The Prime MinisterOf course, this anxiety has been expressed on a number of occasions, and of course this is a matter of concern for everyone in this 244 House, but the right hon. Gentleman must recognise that we cannot, and should not, be asked to go on indefinitely maintaining an international police rôle in all parts of the world where we have been doing it in the past. Our monetary, manpower and fiscal resources will not permit it, and it is really time that the Conservative Party came to terms with the events of the world in which we are living.
§ Mr. HooleyWould my right hon. Friend agree that his argument applies with equal force to the Persian Gulf?
§ The Prime MinisterI did not catch the first few words of my hon. Friend's question, and I would be grateful if he would repeat them.
§ Mr. HooleyWould my right hon. Friend agree that his argument applies with equal force to the Persian Gulf?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, it would certainly apply, if we were to consider, in respect of the Persian Gulf, either for the Persian Gulf area itself, or, as hon. Gentlemen have suggested, the whole of that area from the Persian Gulf, trying to maintain the police rôle which we have decided this country cannot and should not occupy.
§ Sir S. McAddenMay I ask the Prime Minister whether we can deduce from his statement that he believes in concentrating our defence forces in those territories where we have the support of the local population, and if so, why we are moving out of Malta?
§ The Prime MinisterThe position of Malta was explained, and we shall be debating this, I hope, in a day or two. It was explained in the Defence White Paper approved by this House last year that we intended to stay in Malta, but not to go on spending more than we could afford and more than was reasonable for the defence rôle that it is right we should undertake.