HC Deb 04 July 1973 vol 859 cc503-5
1. Mr. Laurance Reed

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek to pay an official visit to Iceland.

26. Mr. James Johnson

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will now seek to pay an official visit to Iceland.

The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Julian Amery)

My right hon. Friend has at present no such plan; but if we can get negotiations going again, he would certainly be ready to take part in them.

Mr. Reed

If the Belgian authorities can reach agreement with Iceland and the German Chancellor can take a special initiative to try to reach agreement, is it not time that we did the same? Does my right hon. Friend not appreciate the strategic significance of Iceland, or does he not care if we blow a damned great hole in the defences of NATO?

Mr. Amery

My hon. Friend will realise that negotiations in Reykjavik between the Germans and Icelanders have made good progress, but they have not yet by any means come to a conclusion. The German Chancellor will be stopping in Reykjavik on his way to Greenland, where he is going fishing, but entirely within territorial waters. It is important to realise that we are not comparing like with like. The German fishing fleet fishes for ocean perch, red fish, or coal fish, whereas we are concerned with cod. The Germans fish at a distance from the Iceland coast different from that at which our fishing fleet operates. One cannot exactly compare the two sets of negotiations, but we hope that any progress the Germans make with Iceland will lead to similar progress in our case.

Mr. Johnson

Is it not tiresome, now, in 1973, to be told in this Chamber that we must do what the Germans are doing, when for 12 months or more Government Ministers and some of us from our constituencies have gone to Iceland and attempted to obtain a settlement, and, indeed, have had five separate sets of talks on this matter? Nobody can chide us about not attempting to get a settlement.

Mr. Amery

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, West (Mr. James Johnson) for what he has done on this subject.

Mr. Goronwy Roberts

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that what he said in answer to the hon. Member for Bolton, East (Mr. Laurance Reed) does not rule out the possibility of the Foreign Secretary's visiting Reykjavik for direct talks if he thinks that such talks would be helpful to a solution?

Mr. Amery

I am glad to reaffirm that if we can get negotiations going again my right hon. Friend is perfectly ready to take part.