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information The maximum amount of information is, rightly, required by the British public and we are not witholding any information that does not damage the operational objectives of the task force and that is not upsetting to the families. However, the more information that we can give, the better.
There have been some misunderstandings in the task force. The suggestion has been made that my Department has released information that will damage our forces on the ground. I have carefully checked every such suggestion and I can find no evidence that any damaging information has been given by the Ministry of Defence. What has sometimes happened is that reports have been based on speculation here at home rather than on actual information.
Mr. Reginald Freeson (Brent, East): Will the Secretary of State explain to the House how he could say in his opening statement that the losses that had been suffered would not alter the plan of campaign and yet go on to say that, for operational reasons, the information to which the House and the country wre entitled would not be forthcoming? Some of us will not be satisfied and will be worried about what appears to be an unnecessary retention of information.
Mr. Nott: I am conscious of the fact that day by day we are criticised for giving too much or too little information. The criticism comes from different quarters, and sometines from the same quarter, but from different directions. However, no one is entitled to information that puts any life at risk. In making that difficult judgment in each case, it is right that we should rely largely upon the advice that we receive from the operational commanders on the spot. In the last resort they are the people best able to judge whether information is likely to be damanging to their actions.
Mr. Terence Higgins (Worthing): As the Leader of the Oppostion seems to distinguish between unconditional surrender of the Argentine forces, which he is against, and our forcing them to withdraw from the islands, of which apparently he is in favour, can my right hon. Friend confirm that our military objective is to remove the Argentine invader from the Falkland Islands—no more and no less?
Mr. Nott: Yes, I can confirm that.
Mr. Frank Allaun (Salford, East): Can the Minister inform the House of the number of casualties among Falkland Islanders, men, women and children? How many are concentrated in the Port Stanley area? Was not the objective the liberation of the islanders, not their annihilation? To avoid their death or wounding, will the right hon. Gentleman now do what our Front Bench has asked and resume negotiations at the United Nations?
Mr. Nott: With regard to casualties among the islanders, we are doing everything that we can through the force commander on the spot to keep these to an absolute minimum. We are in constant contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross to see whether we can find some means whereby islanders who may be in a difficult situation in the town can, with Red Cross assistance, be brought out. The Red Cross is working with us on this. So far we had not had a satisfactory response from the Argentines. Our concern for the islanders is very great, and we share that concern with the hon. Gentleman.
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I have already commented on the United Nations. Our objective in the short term is the removal of the Argentines from the Falkland Islands. There is nothing more that the United Nations can do to bring that about. It can be brought about only by British forces on the ground. We have given every opportunity to the Argentines to withdraw. They have turned down every chance, and we must now remove them by force.
Sir John Biggs-Davison (Epping Forest): Will the entire Government be mindful of the reported words of a Royal Marine colour sergeant in the task force, that ince the Falkland Islands are worth dying for they are orth keeping?
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Mr. Nott: I noted that remark by one of our men,' a Royal Marine commando. I am sure the vast majority of the House share his views.
Mr. Laurie Pavitt (Brent, South): Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in offering sympathy and condolences to a family in my constituency on the death of Sapper Prabeen Gandhi? Does he recall that during the passage of the British Nationality Bill 1981 many voices behind him cast. doubt upon patriotism and the nature of our multiracial society? Will he therefore make it clear that some of the first deaths, certainly in relation to my constituency, were of members of the Indian ethnic minority?
Mr. Nott: I know of no one on my side of the House who would feel anything but praise for the ethnic minorities. I may not have got quite the right phrase, but I am thinking, for example, of the Hong Kong Chinese, the Indians and indeed all those serving with the task force many as members of the Merchant Marine. They have done a magnificent job. Their patriotism is not in doubt. Of course I join the hon. Gentleman in offering condolences to sapper Gandhi's family.
Mr. Kenneth Warren (Hastings): Without casting any reflection on the professional skill and, indeed, bravery of the British press men in the Falklands, may I ask the Secretary of State to examine the way in which their personal dispatches are issued? Can he tell us whether there is any monitoring of these reports before dispatch, bearing in mind that often, inadvertently I am sure, targeting information is given to the Argentines, such as the location of damaged British Royal naval vessel today?
Mr. Nott: The reports coming from the journalists in the Falkland Islands have, generally speaking, been magnificent. They have been vivid and have given the country much information, which has been of great value to us. I have nothing but praise for what the journalists there have done.
All the journalists' dispatches are looked at on the ground down there. Of course, the lives of the journalists themselves are involved. We do not seek to censor or change their dispatches here. Sometimes we hold them back if we feel that a dispatch has slipped through inadvertently, perhaps in the heat of the battle when no one has had proper time to look at it. We have held back some for a day or two because we felt that it would be wrong for them to go out. We have done that in co-operation and agreement with the press and the newspaper or television company concerned. Generally speaking, the journalists
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