§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to support a ban on whaling for commercial purposes on a permanent basis at the forthcoming Earth summit.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Earth summit has a full agenda on a range of environmental issues; it will not be the place for detailed consideration of whaling. The United Kingdom has taken a lead in protecting whales and strongly supports the moratorium on commercial whaling, agreed by the International Whaling Commission, which has operated since 1985. The IWC is the proper place to consider the future of the moratorium; it will be discussing the matter at its next meeting in June.