HC Deb 27 May 1935 vol 302 cc777-8W
Mr. RHYS DAVIES

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the proposed new election laws regarding the manner of nomination and election of members to the Polish seym and Polish senate, which will eliminate the party and group system in Poland and drastically reduce Ukranian and other minority representation in the Polish parliament; and whether His Majesty's Government will make representations to the Polish Government or to the League of Nations that these proposals are contrary to the provisions of the Minorities Treaty signed by Great Britain, Poland, and other countries at Versailles in 1919?

Sir J. SIMON

I understand that a new Polish Electoral Bill is at present under discussion by the Constitutional Committees of the Senate and Diet of Poland, but that the text of the Bill has not yet been published in its entirely. It is impossible for His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to express any opinion on a Bill which is not only at present the subject of the parliamentary procedure in another country, but with the text of which they are unacquainted. In these circumstances the hon. Member should not assume that I accept the interpretation which he places on the provisions of the Bill.