§ Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the discussions to which Her Majesty's Government is a party in Geneva intended to strengthen the Geneva protocol in relation to chemical weapons.
§ Mr. GodberI would refer to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Booth).
§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of the Government regarding the principles on which an international treaty prohibiting the use of chemical weapons should be based; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GodberThe Government's view is that a convention on chemical weapons which goes beyond the Geneva Protocol must address itself to the problems of the prohibition of the development, production and possession of these weapons. Such an agreement must provide both for satisfactory definition of the scope of its prohibitions and for their effective verification.