India (Nuclear Tests)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:31 pm on 14 May 1998.

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Photo of Mr Bowen Wells Mr Bowen Wells Conservative, Hertford and Stortford 3:31, 14 May 1998

May I welcome the measured and responsible response of the Foreign Secretary to these deplorable nuclear tests, and particularly his reassurance to the House that we shall continue with our aid programme in order to assist the poorest people in India? Will he lose absolutely no opportunity of impressing on the Indian Government the sheer uselessness of the nuclear tests and of the arms race that they will inevitably trigger? They will set in motion a line of expenditure that the Indian population and the Indian Government can ill afford, and will thus deny many millions of Indian people the opportunity for good education, good health and inward and domestic investment in their economy.