HC Deb 02 May 1973 vol 855 cc1249-52
27. Mr. Frank Allaun

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has held with the Prime Minister of Australia regarding the series of French nuclear test explosions in the Pacific.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Mr. Whitlam referred to the communiqué of the South Pacific Forum and asked that it be drawn to the attention of the French Government. This I have done.

Mr. Allaun

If the British Government are opposed to these tests, as they say they are, why have they not the guts to press the French Government, as Mr. Whitlam and the New Zealanders are doing, to stop them?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

As I have said many times in this House, we have made our position plain to the French Government. The hon. Gentleman shakes his head, but I must state as a fact that we have many times told the French Government that we do not think these tests ought to be held in the atmosphere. That is our position—and we have made it clear—and that of those on the spot in our dependent territories.

Sir G. Nabarro

Is it not a fact that the New Zealanders are proposing deliberately to send a frigate into the area in order to test the situation in the environment? Having regard to the interests of the British Crown in this area and the position of the Pitcairn islanders, who the Prime Minister has denied have any interest in this controversy though my information is that the fall-out from nuclear weapons in that area is acute and has already influenced the flora and fauna on the island, may I ask my right hon. Friend to re-examine that aspect of the matter?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

My hon. Friend may have his own people whom he consults on the matter of fall-out. All I can say is that following the previous tests, all of which we have monitored, there has been no appreciable increase in the pollution of the atmosphere. That is the fact which is given to us by our scientific advisers and the best advisers we can find. The position is clear. The Government disapprove of tests in the atmosphere, and this has been made abundantly clear to the French.

Mr. Dalyell

If the right hon. Gentleman is so certain that his scientific advisers are right and that there is no radiological hazard, why not offer the French the opportunity to carry out the tests off the coast of Berwick?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Because France is an independent country which can take its own decisions.

Mr. Scott-Hopkins

In view of the undoubted opposition of both the Australians and the New Zealanders to these tests in the atmosphere, does my right hon. Friend think that it would be possible to offer the French facilities for underground tests, if there are such things—as indeed there are—so that their tests can be transferred from the atmosphere to underground where the hazards are much less?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

That is not for us. It may be for the United States, but not for Britain.

Mr. Shore

I think the right hon. Gentleman will agree that this is a serious matter because it affects our relations with both Australia and New Zealand, apart from the intrinsic importance of maintaining the test ban treaty. Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether it is the case that he has sought to raise the matter and put it on the agenda for the meeting of the Council of Ministers in Europe and has been refused permission to raise it there or, alternatively, that he is so complacent about this that he does not think it is of sufficient intrinsic importance and that it it does not constitute a real danger to the atmosphere?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

There is no complacency here. This is a matter for the French Government to decide. We make our representations, and Australia and New Zealand, which are independent Commonwealth countries, make theirs. My reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Worcestershire, South (Sir G. Nabarro) is that it may be that the New Zealanders will send a ship into the area. That is their decision. They are an independent country. We make our position clear and also the position held by the occupants of our dependent territories to the French Government. They have to make up their own mind.

Mr. Dalyell

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the answer.