HL Deb 09 February 1966 vol 272 cc730-2

2.28 p.m.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper:

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of Her Majesty's subjects have been impressed into the United States Armed Forces under the United States Selective Service Act; whether any of them are at this time serving in Vietnam, and whether the Government will make a reciprocal Order calling Americans between the ages of 18 and 26, now living in Great Britain, into the depleted ranks of Her Majestys Forces.]

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (LORD WALSTON)

My Lords, there are no records which would give the information sought in the first two parts of the noble Lord's Question. With regard to the third part of his Question, Her Majesty's Government have no plans to reintroduce conscription.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

My Lords, while I am grateful for that information, may I ask whether it is not a fact that many British subjects have had to fly the United States at short notice, and at great expense, in order to escape being drafted, and whether Her Majesty's Government think it right that men owing allegiance to the Queen should be pressed into the service of a foreign Power, and perhaps forced to fight against another foreign Power with which Her Majesty's Government is not at war.

LORD WALSTON

My Lords, I have no information as to the number of British subjects who, in the noble Earl's words, have had to fly the United States. However, I would remind him that any British subject who is liable to the United States draft is liable only because he has gone there as an immigrant to the United States, after the conditions of his immigration visa have been made fully clear to him before being granted, and after he has signed a document which shows that he understands his obligations, including his liability to be called up for military service in the United States.

VISCOUNT DILHORNE

My Lords, so that it is the case that people who possess British nationality may be liable to be called upon for service in the United States Forces if they have migrated to that territory? Is it not also the case that if, while possessing British, nationality, they do take that course they may be liable to criminal prosecution in this country?

LORD WALSTON

My Lords, I know of no reason why they should be liable to criminal prosecution in this country for being drafted into the Army of a foreign Power, whether it is the United States or anyone else. So far as I know, though I bow to the noble and learned Viscount's greater knowledge, that is not a case for criminal prosecution.

VISCOUNT DILHORNE

Would the noble Lord be good enough to look at the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870, Section 4, and then he may well choose to revise his answer?

LORD WALSTON

The Foreign Enlistment Act 1870, so far as I understand it, may make it an offence for a subject of this country to fight for a foreign Power against a Power with which Her Majesty's Government is not at war. So far, that situation has not arisen, either in the United States or elsewhere.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

My Lords, if I may, I should like to press this matter a little further. Is it not a fact that a British subject who manages to escape the American draft and returns to Britain may be apprehended in this country by the U.S. Military Police and taken to the nearest American base, and that Her Majesty's Government are powerless to intervene? Is such a one-sided and monstrous state of affairs conducive to good Anglo-American relations and in the spirit of the Churchill and Kennedy Memorials?

LORD WALSTON

My Lords, perhaps I should admit that I have some personal interest in this matter, as I have a son in America at the present time. If a British subject, before he has actually received his calling-up papers, returns to this country, as he is at perfect liberty to do—it is not a question of fleeing the United States, because nobody is stopping him from coming back here—he is under no threat whatsoever from the American authorities at any time. If, in fact, he has received his calling-up papers and then dodges the draft, I am not able at this stage to say what would be the position if he were then apprehended in this country by the United States military authorities. Fortunately, such an occurrence has never yet taken place, and I hope will not do so.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

My Lords, according to a Foreign Office spokesman quoted in the Guardian, it was said that such a man could expect no protection here if the Americans chose to exercise their rights in the matter. Is this in fact so?

LORD WALSTON

My Lords, if such a man, having freely signed, under no compulsion, a statement saying that he placed himself under obligation to the United States because he wished to become an immigrant, then decided that he wished to escape at the last moment from those obligations into which he had freely entered, I think it is probably perfectly true that we should have no reason for standing in the way of the due process of the laws under which he had voluntarily placed himself.