Wilson on the suggestion of an oil embargo on South Africa
Mr. Freeson (‘illesden, East, Labour) asked the Prime Minister whether he would initiate through the United Nations an international embargo on the shipment of oil to South Africa.
Mr. Wilson: No, All forms of measures, of which oil sanctions are only one, are at present being considered by the United Nations expert committee on sanctions in New York. The Government is playing a full part in the work of this committee, without commitment to adopt any particular measures which may be recommended. We must await the committee's report.
Mr. Freeson persisted and said would not the Prime Minister agree that drastic action is necessary to avoid a near-war situation which could engulf Commonwealth countries and Africa as a whole. ‘Yould not an oil embargo be a speedy way of getting the South African Government to negotiate an end to apartheid? (Opposition cries of protest).
Mr. Wilson in his reply said that whik an arms embargo is one thing, we are not committed in any way to any form of control, whether unilateral or multilateral, over trade in relation to South Africa. The Government took part in the work of the sanctions committee without commitment as to the outcome of that work. "I have expressed the view" he said, "that an oil sanction is something very relevant to a near-war or war situation, and that the only difference between an effective oil sanction, and outright war is pretty well the difference between strangling a man slowly and hitting him on the head with a hatchet. Tory M.P. wants to make unions liable to damages
Mr. R. Graham Page (Crosby, Conservative) has introduced a Bill to make collective contracts between trade unions and employers or employers! associations enforceablé lsv, He proposes to make trade union contracts relating to employment enforceable either against the union or by the unions against the employers. A claim for damages would lie against a trade union if a contract was broken by union members in official or unofficial action. Mr. Crosby argues that if the Bill goes through union leaders will take more energetic steps to prevent unofficial strikes. Government « determined to carry out Treaty obligations in Aden
Speaking in the House of Commons, Anthony Greenwood, the Colonial Secretary, told the House that in view of "aggression" and "subversive activities" from across the border he reaffirmed that the Government was determined to carry out their treaty obligations in the Aden area. He did this when reporting back on his visit to Aden. He also announced the Government's support for a "unitary state on a sound democratic basis", When asked how ballot-box elections would be organised in the tribal areas, he said that who would vote would be left for the joint ministerial committee; it mizht, for a limited period in some areas, be necessary to have tribal voting.