§ Q6. Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Prime Minister whether he has yet fixed a date for an official visit to the USSR.
§ Q15. Mr. Kenneth Lewisasked the Prime Minister if he will seek to pay an official visit to the USSR in the month of October.
§ The Prime MinisterI have accepted in principle an invitation from the Soviet Government to pay an official visit to Moscow but the date for the visit has not yet been fixed.
§ Mr. LathamWhen the Prime Minister visits Moscow, will he make it clear to the Soviet leaders that there can be no progress towards further detente in Europe until the Russians put forward specific proposals for a greater liberalisation of ideas and for emigration from the Soviet Union of Soviet Jews?
§ The Prime MinisterAs the hon. Gentleman will know, those matters are currently being discussed in the Geneva conference which has followed up the meeting of Foreign Ministers in this country during the period of the previous Government. We hope that sufficient progress will be made on all outstanding issues, including that to which the hon. Gentleman has referred, to be able to go forward in a really constructive way to the proposal which has been made for a meeting of Heads of Government before too long. I hope that it will be quick.
This is certainly an important point that has been raised by the hon. Gentleman. As he will know, over some period I have been very much concerned myself with individual cases of release. Indeed the Panov case, which has been pressed by very many right hon. and hon. Members, was raised by me with the Soviet Deputy Prime Minister three weeks before the decision. I am sure that it was the combined view of all those who had pressed this point that led to that conclusion.
§ Mr. WhiteheadWe all welcome progress towards detente, but will my right hon. Friend make it clear to the Soviet authorities in whatever talks take place that civil liberties in the Soviet Union concern us greatly, and not merely the matter of emigration of Jews? Will he 1828 particularly refer to disgusting practices such as the incarceration of political dissidents in mental homes?
§ The Prime MinisterI know the anxiety on these matters. While it is right that there should be further pressure, I think it better that I should not say too much about this question because, as my predecessor knows, these cases can sometimes be dealt with better in private discussions than in public declaration.
§ Mr. LewisIs the Prime Minister aware that this must be the first time that my hon. Friend the Member for Melton (Mr. Latham) and I have tabled Questions together, and that arising out of those Questions having been tabled— they were tabled a week or two ago— he has now had an invitation to go to Russia? Will he ask the Secretary of State for Industry to tell us where he would like to go? As far as possible, we will put that on the Order Paper and hope that he is sent there.
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman's question has almost reached his top level of intelligence and accuracy. I announced in the House several weeks ago that I had had this invitation to go to the Soviet Union. But if the hon. Gentleman is anxious that my right hon. Friend, who has been very much concerned—as were the previous Government—in improving relations on technology and trade, should go to the Soviet Union, he could always go to China and see how they do it there.