BRITISH ENTRY Tories withstand Labour onslaught

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32860, 8 March 1972, Page 17

BRITISH ENTRY Tories withstand Labour onslaught

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, March 7.

The British Government last night strongly resisted another onslaught from the Labour Opposition in the House of Commons on the legislation that would enable Britain to join the Common Market.

A motion of censure on the Government moved by the Opposition was defeated by 317 votes to 270. The Tories’ nominal majority in the House is 26.

Mr Geoffrey Rippon, the country’s chief Common Market negotiator, denied that the Conservatives wanted to stifle debate of the issue and accused Labour members of making a mockery of Parliament by deliberate obstructionist tactics.

Mr Rippon was speaking on a motion seeking censure of Mr Heath’s Government for drafting the European

Communities Bill in such a way as to rule out substantial amendment. > Labour speakers had ■ accused the Government of ! bad faith on an issue which I affected the sovereignty of 1 Parliament. > Mr Rippon said: “Opponf ents of British entry ought • to be very careful not to ’ make a mockery of the institutions they defend. “There does come a time when the assertion that a bill to which this House has given a second reading shall not pass comes very close to an assertion that the majority shall not prevail. “I hope that members and the public outside, will not lose sight of what are the fundamental British interests in this matter, of the underlying purpose of the bill. “This has been the view taken by the previous government, the present Government, and the Liberal Party: that it is in the interests of Britain, Europe, the Commonwealth, and the free world, that we should proceed to the enlargment of one European Community.”

Links with N.Z.

Mr Rippon added that the Government was in constant touch with the Governments of New Zealand and Australia about the effects on them of British entry. A Liberal member, Mr John Pardoe, said that Liberals did not like the Tory Party, but did not like “the other ugly sister” very much, either. “It is true that the Labour and Liberal Parties share several general views, but there is nothing we like sufficiently in the prospect of the return of a Labour government for us to feel it right to ditch our

long - standing European policy,” Mr Pardoe said. Labour’s spokesman on the bill, Mr Michael Foot, winding up the debate, said that the Government had no mandate for the bill. The Solicitor-General (Sir Geoffrey Howe), who “repudiated absolutely” a charge that Parliament had been misled, said that neither Parliament nor any of the other countries concerned was able to pick and choose which of the treaty provisions it would accept. The Government took the Opposition censure motion challenge so seriously that the Deputy Foreign Secretary (Mr Joseph Godber) was recalled from an important South American tour, so that he could vote. The Tories are mindful that the measure was given a second reading last month by a margin of only eight votes, a group of Conservative members rebelling and voting with the Opposition. Since then, some of the Conservative opponents of entry have adopted a more conciliatory attitude, and the Government has scored majorities of more than 30 in recent votes on Market issues. One Conservative who has refused to budge from his strong opposition to entry is Mr Enoch Powell, who joined Labour tacticians in seeking to delay the legislation through procedural disputes. The bill must be passed by Parliament this year if Britain is to become a full E.E.C. member on January 1, 1973, as planned.