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HI JUNI 1979
in his criticism of Vietnam and the poli- cies and pressure that should be brought to bear. The House will welcome his decision to allow the refugees from the Roachbank to be admitted to this country. I am certain that all sides of the House will pay tribute to the work of the voluntary agencies.
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Will the Home Secretary answer three questions? Does he accept that, although the problem of Vietnamese refugees must be dealt with on an international basis, the numbers so far accepted for admission to Britain are relatively small compared with those accepted by some countries?
other
Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the voluntary organisations to which he has referred, together with the Save the Children Fund, have already indi cated their readiness to accept a signifi- cantly large number of refugees than bas so far been authorisd by the Government, including those from the Roachbank “*?
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Will the Government now agree to stand by the principles laid down by my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, South (Mr. Rees) when he has Home Secretary that Britain would be prepared to accept for settlement refugees picked up on the High Seas by ships registered in Britain and not acceptable elsewhere? Is this not a time for firm British leade.- ship on this humanitarian issue, rather than for a retreat from the clear posi- tion that was taken by my right hon. Friend?
Mr. Whitelaw: The problem of rei- ugees is certainly an international one. We must accept it on that basis. I think that we in this country are entitled to say that we have many other pressures and that there are many other claims on our res- ources, and we have to regard them on that basis.
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The voluntary organisations have said perfectly properly that they can cope with the refugees from the Sibonga" and the "Roachbank ". but if it was to go further they would be subjected to ver great strains that are well beyond thei resources to cope with.
As for our saying that we would, irre:-- pective of the circumstances, tak people for settlement, I must tell the right hon. Gentleman that of course our inte national obligations require the master of a British ship to assist those in dis-
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(Vietnamese Refugees)
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Tress at sea but that normal international practice is for the country of the next port of call to take in people so rescued.
Mrs. Knight: Is my right hon. Friend aware of the extremely heavy cost, both in terms of money and delay, to the shipping companies involved in this matter? Is anything being done by the United Nations or any other international agency to encourage those shipping companies to pick up the refugees?
Mr. Whitelaw: There is an international obligation on the master of a British ship to assist people in distress at sea. It is also a matter for the international organi- sations and for the United Nations Com- missioner for Refugees thereafter to do everything they can to help companies in a very difficult situation.
Mr. Grimond: 1 welcome the Home Secretary's statement, but I should be grateful for any more information he can give on what the United Nations are doing either to protest against the savage bru- tality of the Government of Vietnam, or about the refugees. We are always hearing about world opinion. Is not this the moment when world opinion should be mobilised??
Mr. Whitelaw: That is exactly what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister sought to do in her communication to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Waldheim. That was and still is our position. We shall do every thing that we can to condemn the Viet namese action by international opinion. That is very important, and it is a major first step in dea ing with this problem.
Mr. Patrick M Nair-Wilson: My con- stituents living round the Sopley re- settement camp whilst looking forward to welcoming the relugees fleeing from Communism and starting to arrive tomor- row, nevertheless are concerned that un- less firm quotas are set at some point thai camp may become a permanent refu- gee camp with all the attendant pressures on local services and employment.
Mr. Whitelaw: It was at that point that part of the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Norwich, North (Mr. Ennals) was directed. If we had to go further that would place a very great strain on the resources of this country in may different ways.
DC10 Aircraft
11 JUN
Mr. McNally: I think that everyone accepts that the scale of this problem is beyond the capacity of any one country to deal with. However, if the Home Sec- retary and his colleagues are to mobilise world opinion they will have to lead by example. Does he accept that the previous Government's willingness to take 1,500 land-based refugees, as well as those picked up on the high seas, is not beyond the capacity of a country which is gen- uinely willing to mobilise world opinion? Does he agree that if we do not do that we are not only not leading, but are going back on previous commitments?
Mr. Whitelaw: We have accepted that commitment.
Several hon. Members rose-
Mr. Speaker: Order. There is another private notice question and a statement still to come. We must now move on to the second private notice question.
DC10 AIRCRAFT (GROUNDING)
Mr. Clinton Davis (by private notice) asked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement on the ground- ing of DC10 aircraft operated by British airlines.
The Minister of State, Department of Trade (Mr. Cecil Parkinson): The grounding of the British-registered DC10s by the Civil Aviation Authority is the direct consequence of the withdrawal by the Federal Aviation Administration of the aircraft's type certificate.
Because the CAA is substantially influenced by the type certificate issued by the country of manufacture when first issuing a certificate of airworthiness for an imported aircraft, the withdrawal of the type certificate was naturally an im- portant development, and the CAA, hav- ing considered the matter, decided that it was necessary to suspend the United Kingdom certificates of airworthiness for the time being for DC10s registered here.
A vigorous technical evaluation of the DC10 problem is being carried out in the United States and in the United Kingdom. The CAA is doing all that it can and has been in constant touch with the FAA. It has sent two airworthi- ness experts to the United States to learn at first hand whether the evidence avail-
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