Dear Sir Austin PearceSir Austin,
Thank you for your letter of 13 January about the meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry on 8 January.
You will have read Leon Brittan's statement in the House on Monday in which he gave his recollection, which was shared by the Ministers and officials present, of that meeting. You were kind enough to send me a copy of Sir Raymond 's account of the proceedings (which I understand that you are not prepared to have published) and I am sending you with this letter a copy of the record of the meeting taken by the Department of Trade and Industry, which will be published.
Let me emphasise that we are pleased that the Westland Board has enjoyed a choice of offer. As I have told the House of Commons, Westland is a private sector public limited company and the company's decision on its future is a matter of commercial judgment for its directors, and ultimately its shareholders. That remains our policy.
Finally, let me assure you, as I assured Sir John Cuckney in my published letter of 1 January, that whichever of the two proposals currently under consideration the company chooses to accept, the Government would continue to [end p1] support Westland's wish to participate in European collaborative projects and would resist to the best of its ability attempts by others to discriminate against Westlands.
Thank you for agreeing that your letter can be published since it has become a public issue. I am publishing this reply. Yours sincerely Margaret Thatcher