HC Deb 15 May 1973 vol 856 cc1235-8
Ql. Mr. Adley

asked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his official talks with President Pompidou.

Q2. Mr. Meacher

asked the Prime Minister what plans he now has to meet President Pompidou.

Q4. Mr. Strang

asked the Prime Minister if he will seek to place the common agricultural policy on the agenda for his forthcoming meeting with the President of France.

Q5. Mr. Wyn Roberts

asked the Prime Minister what plans he has for an official meeting with President Pompidou.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Edward Heath)

I shall be having talks with President Pompidou in Paris on 21st and 22nd May. There will be no formal agenda but the meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss matters of mutual interest. I do not propose to announce in advance the subjects which are likely to be covered.

Mr. Adley

When my right hon. Friend last met President Pompidou they discussed regional planning. In view of the announcement by Commissioner George Thomson yesterday, does he feel that the location of major international airports is a relevant factor in economic planning within the Community?

The Prime Minister

What we discussed at the summit was the question of regional development policy from the

1975–76 includes replacement of the Swinton Fitzwilliam junior school.

Following are the figures:

point of view of the financial backing for it. We did not go into the question of detailed planning of either manufacturing industry or airports. This is not a question which President Pompidou would expect me to raise with him. Certainly the new airport at Roissy, outside Paris, is some distance from Paris—in exactly the same way as Maplin is from London, if that is what my hon. Friend has in mind.

Mr. Meacher

Will the Prime Minister accept that Britain has a moral duty to dissuade the French from further nuclear testing, both as a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and because there is likely to be serious fall-out in the Pacific? Is the Prime Minister being evasive on this moral issue because he does not want to delay discussions on Anglo-French nuclear co-operation?

The Prime Minister

There is absolutely no relationship between Anglo-French nuclear co-operation and any tests which the French Government may decide to conduct in future. As I have told the House, President Pompidou's view has been that the time is not right for discussing Anglo-French nuclear co-operation.

Mr. Strang

Will the right hon. Gentleman make it clear to President Pompidou that the people of Britain are not only unwilling to accept an agricultural policy which deliberately maintains artificially high food prices when compared with world prices, but that they resent having to pay a disproportionate share of the cost of such a policy? Will he also tell President Pompidou that in the context of the present review of the common agricultural policy France must be prepared to introduce schemes giving direct support to producers as opposed to making them totally dependent on high farm gate prices?

The Prime Minister

I do not think one achieves the results one desires in international affairs by telling another country that it must be prepared to accept this or that, any more than it would achieve the same result with us by that process. What is important is that it was agreed at the meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture that there should be a complete review of the agricultural policy. As a member of the Community, we can now play a full part in that.

Mr. Roberts

Will my right hon. Friend impress upon the President that the common regional policy is as important to us here as the common agricultural policy is to the French? Will he, secondly, seek to assure a positive response, not only from French but from Europe, to Dr. Kissenger's call for a new Atlantic alliance?

The Prime Minister

There is certainly no need for me to impress this upon President Pompidou because it was as a result of the talks I had with him that there was agreement that the regional policy was as important to us as the common agricultural policy is to France. It was on this basis that it was included in the summit communiqué and agreed by the remaining Heads of Government. As for Dr. Kissenger's recent speech, both countries have already made it clear that we hope to make a positive contribution in reply to it.

Mr. Dalyell

Reverting to the nuclear tests, will the Prime Minister assure us that there is no grain of truth in Chapman Pincher's assertion that we are in a rather weak position with President Pompidou because we want to conduct at least one test of our own?

The Prime Minister

I assure the hon. Gentleman that there is no grain of truth in that. We have no immediate plans for testing—

Mr. Dalyell

What does the Prime Minister mean by "immediate"?

The Prime Minister

I mean that we have no immediate plans for testing United Kingdom warheads. If the hon. Gentleman cannot understand the word "immediate", he should stop taking part. Any tests which we may make to keep our nuclear warheads up to date— as we are pledged to the House to do— are taken underground. That is permissible under the partial test ban treaty. There is, therefore, absolutely no relationship between anything that a British Government might wish to do in the future by way of underground testing and testing in the air.

Sir G. Nabarro

Is not the principal objection of the major Commonwealth countries in the Southern Hemisphere to the continuance of these French nuclear tests the intrusion of a European Power into their territory? Is not this a grave issue because the Australians and New Zealanders sincerely believe that Britain is bending over backwards to fall into line with the policies of a European power in the Community to the detriment of their interests?

The Prime Minister

My hon. Friend must himself judge the reason for the position which Australia and New Zealand have taken up. The French Government are entitled to claim that the test is taking place in French territory.

Mr. Russell Kerr

Rubbish.

The Prime Minister

Surely it is other matters which people consider. The question of the degree of fall-out is the reason why we have always urged that all countries—not only France, but also China—should adhere to the partial test ban treaty.