Mr..Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why he has not sought to arrange consular protection of, and access to, British journalists and other British visitors to Rhodesia who are and may be imprisoned and put on trial; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LuardThe question of consular protection does not arise in British colonies. In the present circumstances of rebellion in Rhodesia it would be unrealistic to believe that Her Majesty's Government could extend effective protection to British subjects there. As my82W right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in the House on 11th November, British citizens who stay in Rhodesia under the illegal régime do so at their own risk.—[Vol. 791, c. 173.]
§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the General Electric Company English Electric Corporation made to him on the subject of its possible participation in the Cabora Bassa hydro-electric project in Mozambique; and what advice he offered to the firm in respect of possible contraventions of Her Majesty's Government's sanctions policy against Rhodesia.
§ Mr. LuardI have received no representations from General Electric Company/English Electric about its possible participation in the Cabora Bassa Project. However, the company was in touch with the Board of Trade about this, and, after consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the board informed the company that the mere supply of goods from the United Kingdom to the project in Mozambique would not fall within the ambit of our sanctions legislation, but that if there were any involvement by a British firm in dealing in goods of Rhodesian origin, the question of a possible breach of our sanctions legislation would depend on the facts of the case.