§ Mr. SpeakerI have further to acquaint the House that the Lord High Chancellor, one of the High Commissioners, delivered Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament, in pursuance of Her Majesty's Command. For greater accuracy, I have obtained a copy and directed that the terms of the Speech be printed in the Votes and Proceedings. Copies are being made available in the Vote Office.
§ The Gracious Speech was as follows:
§ My Lords and Members of the House of Commons
§ The Duke of Edinburgh and I were pleased to receive the State Visits of His Highness the Amir of Bahrain in April and the President of the French Republic and Madame Mitterrand last week.
§ We look back with much pleasure to the visits we have made over the past year. As Head of the Commonwealth I was in New Delhi on the occasion of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November. We paid State Visits to Kenya, Bangladesh and India in November and Jordan in March. Our thoughts are with the people of India today following the tragedy of Mrs. Gandhi's assassination. We visited France in June, to attend the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of D-Day. We were in Canada in September and October for the bicentenary celebrations of New Brunswick and Ontario, and to visit Manitoba.
§ My Government welcomed the independence of Saint Christopher and Nevis, Brunei's resumption of full responsibility for its own external relations, and the decision of both countries to join the Commonwealth.
§ My Government have sustained Britain's contribution to Western defence, playing an active part in the Atlantic Alliance. They welcomed Lord Carrington's appointment as its Secretary-General. In the absence of an arms control agreement, my Government fulfilled their undertaking to begin the deployment of cruise missiles by the end of 1983.
§ My Government, with the United Kingdom's allies, have worked vigorously for balanced and verifiable arms control and disarmament and have sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. They fully supported the United States' efforts to achieve nuclear arms reductions and their readiness to resume the negotiations suspended by the Soviet Union.
§ My Government agreed with other Member States on a fair sharing of the European Community's budget burden and on control of Community spending. They have made proposals for new Community policies.
§ My Government were hosts to the London Economic Summit in June and welcome its conclusions.
§ My Government have continued fully to discharge their obligations to the people of the Falkland Islands, while seeking more normal relations between this country and Argentina. They have conducted talks with China on the future of Hong Kong and published the text of a draft agreement. They have been helping with the conversion of the Royal Navy Dockyard in Gibraltar to commercial operation.
§ My Government have continued to support efforts to restore the independent and non-aligned status of Afghanistan and to settle the tragic conflict between Iran and Iraq. They have welcomed moves to reduce tension in 1391 Southern Africa, and continue to support peaceful change there and the early independence of Namibia. They supported United Nations efforts to settle the Cyprus question.