HC Deb 16 March 1981 vol 1 cc3-4
3. Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he will reconsider existing trade arrangements with South Africa.

The Minister for Trade (Mr. Cecil Parkinson)

No, Sir. I have no reason to think that existing arrangements are inadequate.

Mr. Canavan

In view of the obstinate refusal of the South African Government to implement the United Nations plan in Namibia, will the Minister impose sanctions against South Africa? As the Nigerian President, who is visiting Britain this week, is calling for an oil embargo against South Africa, will the Government reconsider the deplorable decision to grant shares in North Sea oil licences to Unilon, which is a South African company, and to Charter Consolidated, which has South African connections?

Mr. Parkinson

The Government take the view that dialogue and contact are the most constructive bases for our relations with South Africa. They are far to be preferred to ostracism and isolation. We work on exactly the same principles in our dealings with the hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Anthony Grant

Does my hon. Friend recall that the former President of the Board of Trade, the right hon. Member for Barnsley (Mr. Mason), said that it was important that we increased our trade with South Africa, and that if we stopped trading with people with whose policies we disagreed we would soon be bankrupt? Is not what the hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan) said yet another example of the double standards of the Labour Party in Government as opposed to in Opposition?

Mr. Parkinson

I agree with my hon. Friend. He was right to say that if we applied a political acceptability test to our trade we should have to strike a large number of countries from our trading lists, and a large number of people would be out of work.

Mr. Gordon Wilson

Does the Minister agree that if Unilon is given the right to prospect for oil in the North Sea it will be carrying the hand of friendship a little too far?

Mr. Parkinson

I suggest that the hon. Gentleman tables a question to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy, who will explain the basis on which the licences are allocated.

Mr. Bowen Wells

I congratulate my hon. Friend on that reply. Is he aware that he could have said that it was a matter for the EEC? Does he understand that such replies are irritating and that he should say what the EEC is doing about these matters?

Mr. Parkinson

I content myself with thanking my hon. Friend for his opening remark.

Mr. Clinton Davis

Will the Minister confirm or deny the allegation made by "Anti-apartheid" that British owned and operated tankers, with the connivance of the British Government, have been playing a central role in secret international deals to breach the OPEC embargo on oil supplies to South Africa?

Mr. Parkinson

If the hon. Gentleman cares to table a question on that subject, I shall endeavour to answer it.