HL Deb 06 December 1972 vol 337 cc249-50

2.45 p.m.

LORD HALE

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 what facilities now exist for constant Commonwealth consultation and when the next meeting is planned.

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, there are regular exchanges with Commonwealth Governments, including Ministerial visits in both directions, and meetings. For example, next month there will be a meeting of Commonwealth Law Ministers in London, and in Lusaka a meeting of Ministers concerned with Youth affairs.

LORD HALE

Yes, my Lords: but at a time when all our past does not appear clearly to proclaim our immediate future, and when two general elections have wiped away Commonwealth Governments in the Antipodes, when another has produced a diminution in the support from people of both sexes for Mr. Trudeau, and when there is talk of a weakening of ties which are of great value, are the advisers to Her Majesty's Government wise in postponing the next Commonwealth Conference until August and using up their diminished expectation of political life in always commuting to Brussels? Could we not value these ties and try to preserve them?

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord that the Commonwealth tics are of prime importance. As he will be aware, the Canadian Government have suggested a meeting between Heads of Government in Ottowa next year. The month of August, or any month, has not yet been decided.

LORD HALE

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that it has been predicted in well-informed circles? While I am in entire agreement with my noble friends in seeking to see that there is no colour bar within the Commonwealth, is there anything ignoble in ties of kinship, too, or in a common heritage of language and of history? Might it not be well, when the bandmaster of the old Ship of State is giving the signal for "Abide with Me" and the captain's generous fireworks are incarnadining the sky, that we should recall some of the events of the past which are recalled still in distant parts of what was once the Empire?

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, I am sure that all Members of this House would agree that, despite our differences, there is a very real sense of affinity between the various members of the Commonwealth. The timing of a meeting of the Heads of Government is a matter for mutual agreement, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is now taking soundings on this matter.