HL Deb 28 January 1974 vol 349 cc7-8
THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

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

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any progress has yet been made in negotiations with France to delimit licensing areas for offshore exploration for hydrocarbons in the Celtic Sea and Western Approaches.

THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE)

My Lords, no agreement has yet been reached.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE

My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that informative but disappointing reply, may I ask her whether she recognises that there is considerable urgency about this matter, not least in that it is easier to get agreement before finds have been made than afterwards? But can she confirm the point of view which she expressed in this House last summer, that if agreement could not be reached it might be necessary to insist on the median line?

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

Yes, my Lords. We think the delimitation should be in accordance with the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf, which lays down that the boundary—and I quote: shall be determined by agreement … in the absence of agreement, and unless another boundary line is justified by special crcumstances, the boundary is the median line".

LORD CHORLEY

My Lords, the noble Baroness evidently knows what the "Celtic Sea" means. Would she mind demarcating it to some of us who are more ignorant.

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, I understand that it is the name given to that part of the sea which is bounded by the Irish Celts, the Welsh Celts and even, I understand, by the Cornish.

LORD SHACKLETON

My Lords, may I, as the Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society, congratulate the noble Baroness.

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord.