Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Will the right hon. Gentleman insist on free movement, as guaranteed under the United Nations Charter of Human Rights? Does he agree that the imprisonment of my constituent, Miss Ballantine is entirely unjustified under that charter?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Will the Minister send some literature to the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mrs. Short) to inform her and others who are in doubt of the work done in the last 16 months by my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Mr. Kirk) and other colleagues in pursuing some of what the Minister now calls renegotiation in the many spheres of activity in which the Parliament is concerned?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about the operation of the trade agreement made between the Government of India and the EEC.
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Will the Minister confirm that there has been a wide welcome in India for the agreement between the Government of India and the European Community? Will he use all his influence in future to help other Commonwealth countries to get equal benefits under the general Declaration of Intent?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: asked the Minister of Overseas Development what aid has now been given to the drought-affected countries of the Sahel; and what further help is proposed.
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Will the Minister convey to those concerned—the Service personnel—the thanks of all those in the European Community and in the Sahel for taking the vehicles out recently and for the help they have given locally? Can he say anything further about possible aid by the RAF in the form of an airlift in the next few critical weeks?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Will the Foreign Secretary in future show the same good manners on the Continent as he shows from the Treasury Bench in this House?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Is the Foreign Secretary aware that in the last 15 months a number of proposals have been put forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Mr. Kirk) and sympathetically received, and particularly by Mr. Rafton Pounder, about budgetary control, which have largely been adopted and will come into effect next year?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: As the European Parliament is considering questions of renegotiation, does the Foreign Secretary appreciate the widespread dismay in the European Parliament at the continued emptiness of the 18 chairs, because of the great history of help to social democracy by Ernest Bevin, John Hynd and others in the years after the war?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: In view of the excellent work done by the Royal Air Force during the past three or four years in this area, will the Service be asked to help again?
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Before the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs leaves the Chamber—for, I am sure, a well-deserved break—I want to pay tribute to the patience which he has shown during the debate. Further. I pay tribute to him and add my congratulations to him on attaining such high office. I take up what the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Edelman) has said. I, too, am...
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: When the hon. Member for Wrexham (Mr. Ellis) rose, I hoped that we were going to head a clarion call from a railwayman on behalf of the Channel Tunnel, but it seems that many of these colleagues of his are now at the other end of the building, and I was disappointed. My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, North (Mr. Alexander Fletcher) made a graceful maiden speech, particularly in his...
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: I am still not quite clear what the better alternatives might be. I think I had better get on and leave the right hon. Gentleman to make the point later. I support the Second Reading of the Bill with the greatest possible enthusiasm. I regret that when I last spoke on this subject I did not exhibit the full enthusiasm for the tunnel that I might have shown. We had been urged by the Chair to...
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: I shall come to that in a moment. If the Channel Tunnel were not built, the probability is that 3,800 acres would be needed to cater for the people crowding into the Channel ports and trying to put vehicles on the cross-Channel ferries. At the worst, electric traction on rail from areas north and west of London will take a substantial part of the traffic that would otherwise have to go by...
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: I do not think that the hon. Member for whichever part of Wolverhampton it is that she shares with my right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell)—
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: I do not think that the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mrs. Renée Short) agrees with me about a number of things, one of which is the definition of democracy. In view of the recent by-elections, it is unlikely that her prognostication of a change of Government in the near future will be proved correct
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: Equally, the hon. Lady's definition of democracy is not the same as mine. She maintains that a policy accepted by a broad body with all-party support is damaging to democracy. The decision in October 1971 to enter the Community was taken by a majority of well over 100 Members, from both sides of the House.
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: This is, however, the democratic system. If it is said that nationalisation after the war was done with the will of the British people as a whole, that is entirely contrary to the facts. However, I do not want to take up too much time. I support what was said by the hon. Member for Stockton-on-Tees (Mr. William Rodgers), who made a very good speech. Having said what he did, the only odd...
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: —to be a member of our first delegation to that Parliament. I support my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Mr. Kirk) in his remarks that the sooner we have direct elections the better ; and the sooner that we have all the meetings in one place the better. The holding of direct elections, however, is probably a much more difficult matter than individuals realise. It is essential...
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker: If these interruptions continue, Mr. Deputy Speaker, may I beg leave to move that breathalysers be brought into the Chamber?
