§ LORD MOYLEMy 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 whether they have expertly examined the NAFTA proposals; and, if so, whether they will now publish their conclusions.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (LORD CHALFONT)My Lords, as my right honourable friend the Prime Minister explained in another place on March 21, Her Majesty's Government studied the suggestion for a North Atlantic Free Trade Area intensively before announcing our decision to apply for entry into the European Economic Community on May 2, 1967.
§ LORD MOYLEMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, may I ask him whether he does not think that it would he useful as well to publish the Government's findings upon this 2 proposal, so that the people of this country may have a basis upon which to assess the relative merits of the North Atlantic Free Trade Area and the Common Market?
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, I think it is a fallacy to suppose that there are any relative merits between these two suggestions; but indeed our considerations that resulted from our study were presented, in debates in this House and in another place, after our application to join the European Economic Community in May, 1967.