negative preliminary response from the Russians, but we intend to
make a further approach to the Soviet Government proposing that the Co-Chairmen should do two things: first of all, that they should
circulate jointly both the Laotian messages to the members of the 1962 Geneva Conference, and secondly, that the Co-Chairmen should
invite the International Control Commission in Laos to report
on the facts of the present situation. I perhaps ought to say to
my colleagues that in making our approach to the Russians we are
doing our best to promote a serious exchange of views; we are
not just seeking a propaganda advantage. We are anxious to impress upon the Russians the potential dangers of the situation to which Mr Hasluck drew attention and the fact that the Co-Chairmen have,
by agreement, a duty and an interest to keep pressures in Laos as
low as possible. We have certainly left the Russians in no doubt as to the gravity with which we would regard any serious attempt to upset the status quo in Laos and thus upset further the
Geneva Agreements.
G
Tárning from Laos. to other matters, I think my colleagues would want me first to say something about the decisions we have had to take to withdraw from our military bases in Malaysia and Singapore by 1971 the matter on which Mr Hasluck has spoken in some detail in the speech which I have just listened to with so much interest.
As I said this morning in the Open Session, these were hard
decisions for Britain. We did not rush into them and we did not
go into them gladly. I think everyone around this table will
accept that we took them with extreme reluctance, conscious of the many repercussions for our allies which would flow from
them. However, as I said in my opening statement this morning
and I do not want to waste time in repetition the simple fact
is that we were compelled to do this by economic considerations.
As I explained to you, Mr Chairman, when I visited New Zealand in
January and to the Prime Minister of Australia when I met him with Mr Hasluck, there was in our view no alternative to drastic
action. The seriousness of our situation and at the same time the
firmness of my Government's determination to get things right have
-
been further highlighted by our recent Budget. This is a Budget which will cut our standard of living the standard of living
of all the people in Britain - quite substantially. Teh sacrifice
it requires from the British people is the greater because it
follows upon measures of economic restraint of progressively increasing severity which we have been taking over many months.
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