TNAG-1001-FCO40-1237-Future-of-the-Dependent-Territories-including--Report-of-the-1981 — Page 112

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Falkland Islands

2 DECEMBER 1980

to see in any future negotiation or, in the case of a negative answer, if there were to be no future negotiation. There is no question about this being a negotiating offer on the table. This is something which the islanders will discuss among them- selves in order to decide whether they wish it to be pursued.

Mr. Frank Hooley (Sheffield, Heeley): Is not the Government's argument that the interests of 1,800 Falkland islanders take precedence over the interests of 55 million people in the United Kingdom?

Mr. Ridley: There need be no conflict between the two, especially if a peaceful resolution of the dispute can achieved.

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Mr. Julian Amery (Brighton, Pavilion): Is my hon. Friend aware that his state- ment is profoundly disturbing? Is he also aware, certainly the Falkland islanders are, that for years and here I speak from some experience-his Department has wanted to get rid of this commit- ment? Is he further aware that it is almost always a great mistake to get rid of real estate for nothing, that the Falkland Islands may have an impor- tant part to play in the future of the South Atlantic and that admitting that the interests of the inhabitants and their wishes must be paramount, there is also a considerable British interest in main- taining this commitment, which is prob ably much cheaper to maintain than it is to lose? Will my hon. Friend look back at the cost to us in terms of oil prices of the surrender of Aden and the Persian Gulf?

Mr. Ridley: I think my right hon. Friend knows me well enough to realise that I do not embrace schemes which are thrust upon me by my Department. The Government as a whole have taken the decision to take this initiative. It is of a political nature, and it is not the job of the Foreign Office to devise such an initiative. There is a great deal in what my right hon. Friend said about the need to watch the strategic and other interests in the South Atlantic. It is in order to ensure that these may be peacefully pursued, including the possi- bilities of oil around the Falklands, that there is a premium on trying to solve the dispute.

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Falkland Islands

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Mr. Donald Stewart (Western Isles): In order to allay the fears and doubts which his statement will have aroused among islanders, and in order to preserve the honour of the Government in the affair, will the Minister now advise the Argentine Government that the matter is closed unless and until the islanders wish to reopen it?

Mr. Ridley: I repeat that I was in the islands more recently than the right hon. Gentleman. It is not for him to say what the islanders do or do not want. I have asked them directly, and I do not need his services to anticipate what they may say.

Mr. Kenneth Warren (Hastings): I recognise that the Falkland Islands have severe current economic problems, but does my hon. Friend agree that the po- tential in terms of fisheries and offshore oil in the Falkland Islands is sufficient to sustain them economically in the not too distant future and that we should give the islanders every support that we can in their economic bargaining?

Mr. Ridley: My hon. Friend is right, but he will also know that it has not proved possible under the Governments of either party to exploit those resources, either of fish or oil, because of the dead hand of the dispute with Argentina. We are seeking to find a solution in order to make that possible.

Mr. Tom McNally (Stockport, South): Is the Minister aware that his Depart- ment's policy over many years has been the major cause of the uncertainty affect- ing the islands? Instead of making these humiliating excursions to the Argentine, would it not be better for the hon. Gen- tleman simply to say that whatever the Government, and whatever the majority, there will never be a majority in this House to give this historically separate people and separate islands to the Argen- tine?

Mr. Ridley: The hon. Gentleman speaks as if he knows more about the position than the Foreign Office and the islanders; he seems to speak for the whole House. He may find that he is sometimes wrong.

Viscount Cranborne (Dorset, South): Is my hon. Friend aware that his state- ment today has caused grave disquiet

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