No Tory undertaking about N.Z. interests

Press, 11 January 1978, Page 12

No Tory undertaking about N.Z. interests

By

JOHN ROSS

in London

The man who is tipped to become Agriculture Minister in a future Conservative Government in Britain has declined to indicate the strength of Tory commitment to the New Zealand cause in Europe. Mr John Peyton, the Conservative party spokesman on agriculture, said: “That does not mean, however, that we lack sympathy for or understanding of the New Zealand position.” Mr Peyton hinted he was far from convinced that the last two Labour Governments had got the best possible deal for New Zealand exports to Europe; and said that a pro-European Conservative Government might well win more support and understanding in Brussels than the Labour Administration had done. A member of Parliament for Yeovil, Somerset, since 1951, Mr Peyton said that the closest he had been to New Zealanders “in any quantity” was in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany in the early 19405.

His reluctance to give specific undertakings on New Zealand’s future in Europe, he said, stemmed from current indecision in Brussels, from the fact that as an Opposition member he had little opportunity for discussion with European Ministers, and from his awareness of the fact that politicians could “make nice noises” but later find that their apparent commitment could not be followed. “That gives politicians a very bad name, and I am not going to make that mistake,” he said. When I suggested that such a reticence might, create the impression that the Conservatives would be less keen to push New Zealand’s case than the last two Labour Governments had been, Mr Peyton said: “I don’t know what the circumstances will be when we take office, and if people conclude from the fact that I am not giving specific undertakings that there is any lack of good will or a failure to understand New Zealand’s feelings, then I am

very sorry, but I don’t feel such a conclusion is justified, and there is nothing I can do to remove it.” Mr Peyton said he fully realised that, with New Zealand approaching the end of the breathing space it had been given in Europe, it had “a fearful problem” on its hands. “But not to take note of changes in circumstances here would be foolish,” he said. “We have said that we will expand agricultural production in Britain, but it has contracted; and producing food from our own resources is an important objective. “New Zealand, however, is an important country, and for Europe to take no notice of its claims would be foolish.” He had, he said, assured the New Zealand Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre) that if he became Britain’s next Minister of Agriculture, he would certainly wish to inform himself at every stage of where New Zealand’s interests lay, and what New Zealand felt were its reasonable requirements.