Memorandum by John Leydon on co-operation with Northern Ireland
(Secret)

Mr. Jenkins telephoned me today about his letter of the 22nd November¹. I told him that I was examining the matters referred to on the second page and that I had intended to send him a reply when I had investigated the figures relating to trade.

Mr. Jenkins then asked me what I thought of the position and I said that there did not seem to be much prospect of making any progress at the moment. I told him that I thought there would be no difficulty about my going to London for a discussion such as he suggested provided that it was understood that such a discussion was not merely limited to demands by Northern Ireland for concessions by us; I said that, of course, such requests could be considered but that it would be necessary also to consider the questions (or at least some of the questions) which we had put forward. I pointed out that most of the items which I had suggested for discussion do not in fact involve any concession from either side and seemed therefore to be peculiarly suitable for discussion.

Mr. Jenkins said that in present circumstances, having regard particularly to the political atmosphere, there seemed to be no prospect of Mr. Scott's² Ministers³ giving him authority even to discuss with us questions of co-operation. Moreover, the Northern Government are now taking the line that any matter for discussion arising out of the Trade Agreement is a matter purely between the United Kingdom and this country. Mr. Jenkins was therefore disposed to think that perhaps it might help if he would arrange for a further discussion of trade matters between himself and myself; and he might be able to arrange that Mr. Scott could come along as his adviser. I said that I would, of course, be prepared to discuss any points that he might wish to raise on the Trade Agreement as between the United Kingdom and Éire and I expressed the view that such a discussion could appropriately take place in Dublin; it was at any rate clear that it could not take place in Belfast. Mr. Jenkins agreed and said that when we reached the point of discussion it might be possible to get Mr. Scott to talk informally about some of the matters which we had proposed for discussion.

Mr. Jenkins referred to the general situation arising from the anti-Partition campaign and said that while it did not give rise to uneasiness on the part of those who understood the situation in London it did certainly create a certain amount of irritation up and down the country, particularly in so far as public speeches on this side adopted the line of placing the blame for Partition on the British Government. He said that Mr. Malcolm MacDonald had been contemplating speaking to the High Commissioner about the adverse effects of the campaign, but that he (Mr. Jenkins) had felt that any such representations would do no good and might be misunderstood in Dublin and that Mr. MacDonald had accordingly abandoned the idea of doing anything about it. This information was, of course, communicated to me on a strictly personal and confidential basis.

Mr. Jenkins will discuss with Mr. Scott at a convenient opportunity the possibility of arranging a meeting in Dublin.