§ Sir H. Legge-Bourkeasked the Prime Minister what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government with regard to a merger of the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
§ The Prime MinisterThis Question appears to be based upon a statement which I am alleged to have made in the course of a private discussion. Of course, I made no such statement. What I have felt for a long time, and have never concealed, is that in the long struggle between the Communist system and the Free World, the nations of the Free World will have to work more and more closely together not merely in military defence but in effective co-operation in the realms of economics,82W trade and human well-being. While the road to this may be long and difficult, it is an objective which we should keep always in our minds, and we should aim at avoiding national policies which operate against its realisation. It is not a question of merging of sovereignties; it is a question of co-operation in all these vital fields between various States and the various organisations of States. This is in fact the doctrine of interdependence which I have often stressed.