§ Q.1. Mr. Juddasked the Prime Minister whether he will make a statement on the latest developments in Rhodesia.
§ Q.5. Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Prime Minister what further steps he has taken to settle the Rhodesian question.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)I would ask hon. Members to await the debate on Rhodesia which is to take place later today.
§ Mr. JuddCan my right hon. Friend tell the House whether a formal reply has been received from Salisbury and whether the constitutional proposal on appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is open to negotiation?
§ The Prime MinisterNo reply has been received. The question of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will no doubt be one of the central elements in the debate today.
§ Mr. LloydDoes the Prime Minister not yet accept that if his proposals contain either a direct or an implied threat to the political authority of Europeans in Southern Africa as a whole they will either be rejected outright, as has so far happened, or they will be accepted in the context of a cynical determination to find constitutional means to escape the consequences—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Briefly, please.
§ Mr. LloydWill he therefore, in his party's own words, seek to
re-examine the processes of constitutional democracy".and continue his negotiations, again in his party's own words, on the basis thatinstitutional forms designed for a different age ".may have even less relevance to Rhodesia than to our own situation?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman must be responsible for the expression to which he has just given voice about the motives of Europeans in Southern Africa. If he is right the argument would not be for any weakening of the terms that we have proposed.