624
From The Minister of State
Jan
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
HKG 025/2.
нка
London SW1A 2AH
RECEIVED IN REORTAY NO. 57
13 APR 1985
DESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTION: FRIDAY 15 APRIL
3 April 1983
In the absence, until 20 April, of a meeting
of the Legislation Committee I thought it would be useful to set out the background to Ivor Stanbrook's Motion on the Dependent Territories and Peter Temple-Morris's Motion on the Middle East and to propose how these might be dealt with.
Although the full terms of his Motion have not yet been tabled, Ivor Stanbrook has said that he will speak for about 45 minutes. He has also indicated that he will probably cover three main aspects of our Dependent Territories, namely the question of independence; citizenship for those which remain dependent; and HMG's position on Hong Kong, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
in
In answering the debate I propose to draw attention to the main political problems raised by Mr Stanbrook, particular that of citizenship. I shall also restate HMG's continuing policy, where independence is a feasible option, to give help and encouragement to those Dependent Territories which wish to become independent whilst not forcing it on those which do not want it. It will I think also be useful to run through the territories quickly one by one outlining their positions. On Hong Kong I shall refer to the discussions with the People's Republic of China following the Prime Minister's visit to Hong Kong and Peking last year. I propose similarly to set out the positions on Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands in the context of our relations with Spain and Argentina respectively.
There is yet no final text for Peter Temple-Morris's Motion on the Middle East, but it is likely to cover the Arab/Israeli dispute and Iran/Iraq. He is likely to be supportive of government policy in the Middle East and to be critical of Israel and, to a lesser extent, of US policies. Answering his Motion would be straightforward and uncontroversial.
The Rt Hon W John Biffen MP
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
as
Crawley
CRANLEY ONSLOW