§ 5. Mr. McKelveyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current position with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweWe continue to stand by our commitments to the Falkland Islanders. At the same time, we are working for better relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina. The expressed wish of my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to meet the Argentine parliamentarians who visited London was only the latest in a series of initiatives which we have taken since 1982. We were disappointed that they did not take up the offer, but we shall continue our efforts to promote better bilateral relations.
§ Mr. McKelveyDoes the Secretary of State agree that it is now time to re-establish full diplomatic relations with Argentina and to discuss sovereignty with a view to reaching an honourable settlement? We could then reduce the staggering £654 million which is the average cost of maintaining Fortress Falklands at the moment.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI am afraid the hon. Gentleman offers a misguidedly simple insight into this problem. We want—and I emphasise it yet again—to move towards more normal relations with Argentina. It was for that 298 reason that my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State offered to meet the Argentine parliamentarians when they were here. My hon. Friend would have explained to them why we are unprepared to negotiate on sovereignty. My hon. Friend would have been prepared to listen to the Argentinians' position. He would also have made clear our wish to see more normal relations, towards which we have taken step after step, none of which has been met with a parallel response.
§ Sir Anthony MeyerDoes my right hon. and learned Friend accept that the visit by the Argentine parliamentarians should be seen as part of a long, slow and necessarily patient progress towards the gradual normalisation of relations? Does he further accept that neither the expectation of the Argentine visitors nor the intention of Her Majesty's Government was that this visit should be used as an occasion for initiating negotiations of any kind?
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI accept precisely the two points made by my hon. Friend. The intention of the meeting offered by my hon. Friend was not to undertake, launch or conduct negotiations, but to explain our position on sovereignty. That has been well and often stated to Argentina. My hon. Friend wished also to impress upon them the sincerity of our wishes in other respects to move towards more normal relations with Argentina. That is and must be a sensible position.
§ Mr. BeithDoes the Secretary of State accept that many of us who met the Argentine delegation found them to be a constructive and courageous group of people? Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman recognise that their unwillingness to have a meeting with Ministers during their visit was quite understandable, considering the view that would have been taken in Argentina of accepting British terms as the basis on which such a meeting would be conducted? Will the Secretary of State recognise that he is dealing with a democracy, not a dictatorship? When the Government were dealing with a dictatorship, they were prepared to give away sovereignty. The Government should at least be prepared to have sovereignty on the agenda and not feel that their ability to negotiate is inhibited by opening the discussions.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThe hon. Gentleman has not got it right. There were no strings attached to the offer made by my hon. Friend to meet the Argentine parliamentarians. He was prepared to meet them to explain why we will not negotiate sovereignty and to listen to their statement of their position on that matter.
We have expressly welcomed the restoration of democracy in Argentina. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister sent a message about that as soon as it happened. We have taken steps to support the Argentine economy and to help that democracy. It would be unhelpful to that democracy, however, to offer unrealistic goals on negotiations about sovereignty. Although, since 1982, democracy has returned to Argentina, the fact which makes a fundamental difference to the question is the invasion of the Falkland Islands by a main force at that time. Therefore, it is quite unreasonable to expect us to put the clock back to before the invasion, as though it had not happened.
§ Mr. KeyWill my right hon. and learned Friend be certain to pursue current Government policy with regard to the Falklands and reject the calls made from a sedentary 299 position by Opposition Members to buy out the Falkland Islanders? Will he further ensure that hon. Members know that the major stumbling block in the gradual long-term solution to the problem is that Argentina has forfeited the trust of the Falkland Islanders and has to start building relations with them?
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is most important, as a matter of common humanity and democratic principle, that respect be paid to the wishes of the Falkland Islanders by this Parliament and by the democratic Parliament of Argentina.
§ Mr. FoulkesDoes the Secretary of State not understand that all of us who were able to meet the Argentine delegation, as the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) said, found them extremely reasonable people and willing to talk positively about the guarantees that their Government will give the islanders about their way of life? In view of the crippling cost of Fortress Falklands and the lost opportunities in trade with the whole of Latin America, surely everything is to be gained and nothing to be lost by entering into direct discussions with the Argentine Government about all aspects of the future of the islands to try to find a solution which is acceptable to Britain and Argentina, and which protects the interests of the islanders?
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThe hon. Gentleman should not imagine that the fact that there is a difference between us and Argentina is now a significant factor affecting our trade with Latin America, or the rest of our relations. Of course we wish to go further to establish more normal relations with Argentina. We have taken step after step in that direction. It is simply not sensible to deceive ourselves into thinking that the issue of sovereignty can be disposed of as the hon. Gentleman suggests. The Argentine Government's stance was restated only a month or two ago. They reaffirmed their unswerving determination to re-establishing the territorial integrity of the republic. They are determined to do that regardless of the wishes of the people who live in those islands. That is not a basis that can sensibly commend itself to the House.
§ Mr. ShersbyIs my right hon. and learned Friend aware that there is very strong support on the Tory Benches for the Government's unwillingness to consider negotiating the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands? Is he further aware that the people of the Falkland Islands pay great regard to their freedom and believe that the British Government will support it? What are the Government doing to normalise relations with Argentina with a view to their taking back their war dead? What discussions have there been with Argentina about that problem?
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI am grateful for my hon. Friend's support. We have made clear to the Argentine Government more than once our willingness to accept a suitably prepared visit to the Falkland Islands under International Red Cross auspices by close relatives of Argentine service men who are buried there, and our willingness to consider any other sensible arrangements that might be proposed. It is one of the many human proposals that we have put forward. We are genuinely anxious to move towards the gradual restoration of normal relations between the people of this country and the people of Argentina.