HC Deb 25 November 1954 vol 533 cc166-7W
18. Mr. Brockway

asked the Undersecretary of State for Commonwealth Relations how the British delegate on the Political Committee of the United Nations voted on the proposal that South Africa, India and Pakistan, with the assistance of an independent nation, should open negotiations on the status of persons of Indian origin in the South African Union.

Mr. Dodds-Parker

The United Kingdom delegate abstained from voting on this resolution. Although Her Majesty's Government endorse the principle of direct negotiation embodied in the resolution, they could not subscribe to other provisions in the resolution which asserted the competence of the United Nations Organisation and which recommended action under United Nations auspices in a matter which appears to fall within South Africa's domestic jurisdiction.