§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will discuss with the United Kingdom's partners in the European Community the desirability of postponing the Madrid conference, which is due to be reconvened on 9 November, until such time as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and other Warsaw Pact countries observe the spirit and the letter of the Helsinki accord and the Polish Government in particular lift martial law, releases Mr. Walesa and other Solidarity leaders and restores human and civil liberties in that country.
§ Mr. RifkindAll decisions at the Madrid meeting are taken by consensus and the last session ended on 12 March with a decision to reconvene on 9 November. It would not therefore be practicable for us and our Community partners to postpone the reconvening of the meeting. However, the United Kingdom delegation will, as in the past, take full advantage of the reconvening of the conference to draw attention to any failures by Warsaw Pact countries to observe the spirit and letter of the Helsinki Final Act, particularly if there has been no significant improvement in the situation in Poland.