§ 45 and 46. Mr. Masonasked the Prime Minister (1) if, at his forthcoming meetings with Marshal Bulganin and President Eisenhower, respectively, he will propose limiting atom and hydrogen bomb tests to one per country per year;
(2) if he will suggest as a topic for discussion at his forthcoming meetings with President Eisenhower and Marshal Bulganin, the question of the cessation of atom and hydrogen bomb tests.
§ The Prime Minister (Sir Anthony Eden)I would remind the House that our decision to manufacture the hydrogen bomb was announced in the Statement on Defence on 17th February this year, which was approved by this House on 2nd March. Her Majesty's Government have no intention of departing from this decision for they still regard our manufacture and possession of the hydrogen bomb as a deterrent to war.
While Her Majesty's Government will at all times welcome arrangements which contribute to world security, they are not prepared to accept agreements which would put the United Kingdom in a position of decisive inferiority to other great Powers, a position which is not justified by the state of our scientific knowledge and resources. Her Majesty's Government are however prepared to discuss methods of regulating and limiting test explosions which take account of their own position as well as that of other powers.
§ Mr. MasonIs not the Prime Minister aware that all hydrogen and atomic bomb explosions can be detected, whether they be in the Pacific or Siberia, because barometers and geiger counters record wind blast and increases in radio-activity resulting from them? While I appreciate the content of his reply, may I ask whether he will press, at the forthcoming double-summit talks with Eisenhower and 196 Bulganin, the questions of the complete cessation of hydrogen bomb explosions and some strict control over further atomic explosions?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. The hon. Gentleman is wrong when he says that all hydrogen and atomic explosions can be known in that way. As to what can be done in the future, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that this is certainly a matter to which I have given a great deal of thought over a considerable period. There are two elements in the situation which I feel the House ought to have in mind. The first is that we hope before long to have a report from the Medical Research Council—perhaps within two or three months—which will, I think, be a very important document in connection with this question. Also, the United States Academy of Sciences is studying the problem of nuclear radiation, and we shall have an opportunity to study that too. I am just as conscious as is the hon. Gentleman of the problem which the subject creates. Of course we will discuss these matters, widely no doubt, when opportunity offers, but I must ask him to leave the initiative to my timing.
§ Mr. RobensCan the Prime Minister say when it is proposed to test Britain's H-bomb?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir; I certainly would not dream of saying anything of the kind any more than the Labour Government told us what they were doing about the atomic bomb.
§ Mr. RobensThere is the difference that the Prime Minister has indicated that we are making an H-bomb. All I am asking him is whether it is proposed to test it, and when.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir; the right hon. Gentleman did not ask me that. He did not ask me whether we were going to test an H-bomb; he said "when." My reply is that I am no more willing to give information to the House on that subject than the Labour Government were about the atomic bomb.
§ Mr. RobensIs it proposed that the bomb should be tested?
§ The Prime Minister.I have no more answer to give to that question than the Labour Government gave about what they were doing with the atomic bomb.