CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT WINDING UP SPEECH FOR MR
LUCE'S USE IN DEBATE ON
SECOND READING OF HONG KONG BILL, 21 JANUARY 1985
INTRODUCTION
I shall try to deal in this concluding speech with as many
of the points raised by hon and rt
by hon and rt hon Members as possible
in the time remaining.
Before I do so I would like to say a very few words about the Hong Kong agreement and about this Bill.
The Hong Kong agreement was the outcome of two years of hard negotiations with the Chinese Government. It is by
any standards an excellent agreement, as the House recognised on 5 December and we are quite certain that it
that could be negotiated in the
circumstances. It was on this basis and in the context of
the expiry of the lease over the New Territories on 1 July 1997 that the people of Hong Kong, and then this House,
endorsed the agreement.
was
the
best
There is of course much further work to be done in the 12
years ahead. The areas which most concern the people of Hong Kong are very fully recorded in the Assessment Office Report. They were also, if I may say so, very responsibly
reflected in hon Members speeches in the 5 December
other concerns will emerge between
We will have thes at the forefront of our
minds in our contacts with the Chinese Government on the
debate. No doubt
and 1997.
now
CONFIDENTIAL