UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Hansard, 10 January 1978)

§ Q2. Mr. Mike Thomas
asked the Prime Minister if he will seek to address the General Assembly of the United Nations.

§ Mr. Foot
I have been asked to reply.
My right hon. Friend has at present no plans to do so.

§ Mr. Thomas
Is the Prime Minister aware that on both sides of the House there is widespread appreciation and, indeed, applause for the courage of both President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin in their attempt to forge a Middle East settlement? Can my right hon. Friend give us any indication of what the Prime Minister will be doing and saying in Aswan, or wherever it is in Egypt that he is to meet President Sadat, and what proposals and progress he is making on that point?

§ Mr. Foot
Arising from the first part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question, nobody in the country will wish there to be any mistaken identity about who is the Prime Minister dealing with these matters. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will be meeting President Sadat. I believe it is right, and I am sure that the people would wish, that this country should give every possible assistance to trying to further the progress towards a peaceful settlement in the Middle East.

§ Sir Bernard Braine
As one who considers that the General Assembly might well benefit from an address by the Prime Minister, especially on the subject of basic human rights may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to advise the Prime Minister that, before accepting such an invitation, he should call in the Foreign Secretary and tell him that the selling of British military equipment to Central American republics which oppress their own subjects and threaten the lives of British soldiers and Commonwealth citizens in neighbouring Belize is nonsense and must be stopped forthwith?

§ Mr. Foot
I have seen the motion put down by the hon. Gentleman and several other hon. Members. I appreciate fully the importance of the question that he raised. This was dealt with in a reply 1437 by the Foreign Secretary just before Christmas. There have been some reports published since which, I think, give a misleading account of the situation. But I shall certainly report to the Prime Minister what the hon. Gentleman said.

§ Mr. Hooley
If the Prime Minister should change his mind and decide to address the General Assembly, could he amplify the rather strange statement attributed to him this morning that the nonproliferation treaty now has very little relevance to the control and spread of nuclear weapons? It is a disturbing statement in itself and it requires some further expansion.

§ Mr. Foot
When the Prime Minister returns from South-East Asia, he will make a statement and report to the House on these matters. Obviously, that is one of the leading questions that will arise. The Government have always taken the strongest possible action in order to try to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and there has been no departure from that design and determination.

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
When the Prime Minister addresses the United Nations General Assembly, will the right hon. Gentleman persuade him to tell it that this House and the British people attach the greatest importance to the political independence of the BBC and, therefore, that there will be no support here for instructions from the United Nations or anywhere else about how the BBC should conduct its external broadcasting?

§ Mr. Foot
The BBC is an autonomous body in these matters, and I think that it should retain that position. There is no proposal by the Government that that should be altered in any sense. Our support for that general resolution against apartheid does not mean any abandonment of that simple principle.

§ Mr. Frank Allaun
Will the Prime Minister attend the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament in May? Does my right hon. Friend think it exactly helpful at this moment to announce a 15 per cent. increase in arms spending during the next five years, and do he and his Cabinet colleagues remember the pledge they gave to the electorate at the previous General Election—namely, to reduce arms spending?

§ Mr. Foot
As regards his attendance at the United Nations, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will have full opportunity to answer that question himself. I suggest to my hon. Friend that he should await publication of the Public Expenditure White Paper and see it in all its aspects—

§ Mr. Frank Allaun
It was in the Press this morning.

§ Mr. Foot
Yes, there were references to one aspect. But I suggest that my hon. Friend should look at the whole of the matter before he makes up his mind about it.

§ Mr. Amery
While agreeing with the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East (Mr. Thomas) that there is wide support throughout the House for the Sadat-Begin negotiations, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman also to make clear that the Government welcome the internal settlement talks now in progress in Salisbury and have no intention of trying to sabotage or interfere with them in any way?

§ Mr. Foot
I am not quite sure whether the right hon. Gentleman is eager to assist in a proper settlement in Rhodesia—or Zimbabwe—or whether his interventions are sometimes aimed at sabotaging a proper settlement. Certainly there is no departure by the Government from what they have said before, and we believe that the Patriotic Front should be associated with any proper settlement in these matters.