HC Deb 10 December 1931 vol 260 c2044
47. Mr. MANDER

asked the Prime Minister if he has any further statement to make with regard to the figures for disarmament given in his speech in the House on 29th June, 1931?

The PRIME MINISTER

I have given this matter further consideration and though the actual figures of expenditure which I gave were of course accurate,, I feel that in the case of Naval expenditure the comparison which I then made of the reductions of expenditure in this and other countries as between pre-war and post-war years does not give a reliable picture of the situation. I was careful to explain the difficulty, owing to various causes, of presenting reliable figures of comparison. It is, however, certain that the ratio of British armaments to-day to British armaments in 1914 is less than the corresponding ratio for any other Great Power, except of course Germany.