HL Deb 23 July 1969 vol 304 cc979-80
LORD BROCKWAY

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 when they propose to announce their decisions on the recommendations of the Duncan Report on Britain's representation overseas.]

THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (LORD SHEPHERD)

My Lords, as my noble friend the Leader of the House said on July 16, before we can give a specific endorsement to the conclusions of the Review Committee on Overseas Representation, we need to go further into their probable consequences. It is clearly too early to give any date for decisions to be announced.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, while welcoming that reply, is my noble friend aware that these recommendations would seriously affect future foreign policy, involving concentration upon Western Europe and America and limitation of interest in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean? In view of these considerations, can we have an assurance that Parliament will be allowed to discuss this Report before decisions are reached by the Government?

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, the statement my noble friend has made is clearly one of the reasons why we need to take time in considering these proposals. So far as a debate is concerned, if my noble friend will look at what the Leader of the House said on July 16, he will see that my noble friend said that he would welcome it.

BARONESS STOCKS

My Lords, would my noble friend agree that in this Report the emphasis is on the financial, the commercial, as compared with the political and cultural functions of our overseas representations, and that this represents a value judgment which many of us do not share?

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, clearly these proposals have caused concern in many quarters. Again, this is one of the reasons why we wish to have time to consider the point.

LORD BROCKWAY

My Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether he read the warning which was given on Sunday by the Prime Minister of Singapore, one of the most far-seeing statesmen in Asia, that this Report reflects a British desertion of the interests and welfare of the Third World? Therefore, will Her Majesty's Government look most seriously at this Report before accepting its recommendation?

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I have already given my noble friend that assurance; but in view of his pressure on this matter may I say, in the firmest possible terms, that the British Government have No intention of abruptly abandoning their interests or responsibilities in the Commonwealth, in the world beyond Europe and North America. The Duncan Report, however, is a useful guide to managerial method.