HC Deb 20 November 1967 vol 754 cc912-4
17. Mr. Marten

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the British ships trapped in the Great Bitter Lakes.

Mr. George Brown

I have nothing to add to what I said in the Debate on the Address on 2nd November.—[Vol. 753, c. 343–4.]

Mr. Marten

If an international force, including dredgers, were to attempt to clear this international waterway south of the Bitter Lakes to liberate these ships, does the right hon. Gentleman seriously think that either the Israelis or the Egyptians would attack it?

Mr. Brown

That is asking me to go into areas where I would prefer not to. We are doing what we can with the other nations who are concerned—we are by no means the only one—both to get the ships out of the Bitter Lakes, and to get the Canal opened. This is obviously a very urgent requirement for us. It is also an urgent requirement for other people. One of the reasons why we are giving so much attention to getting a Resolution from the Security Council on which progress to a solution of the whole problem can be made is our need to get the Canal opened.

Mr. Eldon Griffiths

I do not want to press the right hon. Gentleman too far, but can he say whether, in discussing the resumption of diplomatic relations with Egypt, he is pressing upon President Nasser very strongly indeed the feeling in this country that if our ships continue to be blockaded or marooned in Suez it will be difficult to commend to the British people the resumption of diplomatic relations?

Mr. Brown

I will not link them together like that, but the hon. Gentleman can be assured that all the time I am pressing on the U.A.R. authorities, and those who can help, the need to get these ships out. I was very encouraged the other day to receive a letter from the skippers of four British ships there. It was written in very warm terms, and showed their morale to be high. They said that they were forming an association in the Bitter Lakes, and they were inviting me to be the only non-time serving member of it.

Mr. Ogden

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there are many in this House who will expect the resumption of diplomatic relations between this country and Egypt to be followed by the speedy removal of the physical and political obstacles to the movement of these ships, one of which comes from Merseyside?

Mr. Brown

I suggest that we should not link these two objectives together. —[HON. MEMBERS: "Why not?"]— Because the question of the Canal is linked with a lot of other issues about which negotiations are now going on among a number of countries. I suggest to the House that we would be wise to keep it there.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Ought not this to be linked with the British ships in the Lakes? Surely the right hon. Gentleman can at least confirm that Sir Harold Beeley has talked about this to the President of the U.A.R.? How long does the right hon. Gentleman think it will take to clear the Canal, part of which I understand is silted up? What is the right hon. Gentleman's information?

Mr. Brown

On the question of representations to the President of the U.A.R., the right hon. Gentleman knows that Sir Harold Beeley raised this matter. I have informed the House about this. Secondly, the right hon. Gentleman knows that at my insistence Sir Harold Beeley visited the ships, and that as a result I had the letter from the skippers about it. Of course we are making representations in Cairo. When we have resumed relations and we have an Ambassador there we will be better placed to make them than we have been up to now, but I repeat—and I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman knows this—that this issue is in many ways connected with others which have to be solved elsewhere.

I have recently answered questions about the timetable for clearing the Canal. Estimates vary from weeks to a few months. It would depend, of course, on the size of the force that one was able to assemble and who was allowed to have the authority for doing it. Weeks or a few months is the usual assessment, but the longer the Canal stays shut the greater will be the silting up, and therefore the smaller the ships that will be able to use it once it is opened. I keep drawing the attention of the U.A.R. to the fact that this is a matter for them to consider very much in their own interests.