§ Q 1. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Prime Minister if, in view of recent events, he will invite the Prime Minister of Eire and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland to confer with him in London in order to devise a plan for the abolition of the border between those two parts of Ireland and to achieve the unity of Ireland.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)I have no plans to do so, Sir.
§ Mr. HughesIs not the time ripe for the Prime Minister to make a constructive effort to eliminate the artificial border which is creating so much trouble in Ireland, a border that was artificially created by Sir Edward Carson and others years ago?
§ The Prime MinisterMy hon. and learned Friend will have seen in the Downing Street declaration that following a meeting with the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland it was stated that the border is not an issue.
§ Sir Knox CunninghamIf the Prime Minister wants to avoid bloodshed, as we all do, will he not take the advice of the hon. and learned Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Hector Hughes)?
§ The Prime MinisterI have already given my answer to my hon. and learned Friend. I have always been careful, as has my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, to avoid taking the advice of any extremists.
§ Dr. WinstanleyDoes not the Prime Minister agree that the plight of Southern Ireland, which is in many ways dependent on decisions taken here although it has no voice in those decisions, is one that should be carefully considered by those who seek total separation for Scotland and Wales?
§ The Prime MinisterThat is a point going very much beyond this question, but the hon. Gentleman will be aware of the highly important Anglo-Irish trade treaty signed between this Government and the Irish Government three years ago.
§ Miss DevlinI should like to ask my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister[Interruption.]—it may surprise hon. Members that I should address the Prime Minister as "my right hon. Friend ", but in view of the fact that his party will win the next General Election I think that it is advisable. May I ask my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister whether, in view of his reply, he would not consider it of more benefit to the Government and the people of Northern Ireland if, rather than engage in discussions with the Prime Minister of Southern Ireland, this Government were to keep their promise to the people of Northern Ireland, stop backtracking every time the Northern Ireland Government get into 1175 difficulties, and implement the Hunt Committee's Report, particularly with regard to the educational requirements of new electors?
§ The Prime MinisterI always prefer expressions of friendliness to be based on something warmer than a mere bandwagon element—in which, of course, many other people are joining at the present time—[Interruption.] But, on the all-important question of Northern Ireland, I think that the House will agree—and did so in the debate that we had when we came back after the Summer Recess—that the Government have throughout this very difficult summer and autumn fully carried out all our pledges on the matter of Northern Ireland and, at the same time, have advanced very remarkably what is, I think, the main sentence in the Downing Street declaration—the question of equal rights and non-discrimination, which must be the same in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the United Kingdom.