§ 46. Mr. Anthony Greenwoodasked the Prime Minister if he will arrange for the publication of a White Paper setting out such information as Her Majesty's Government possesses about the effects of hydrogen bomb and other forms of nuclear warfare.
§ The Prime MinisterI am not in a position to add usefully to the information given in the Statement on Defence for 1955 and in the recent report of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, copies of which I am having placed in the Library of the House. As the Statement on Defence indicates, Her Majesty's Government will make further statements from time to time as their views and events develop. I shall be dealing with the general subject of thermonuclear weapons in the defence debate next week.
§ Mr. GreenwoodIs the Prime Minister aware that the report to which he refers, published by the American Government, states that they are contemplating—or are, in fact, in course of preparing—a much fuller statement about the effects of nuclear warfare? Will the right hon. Gentleman try to follow their example? Does he not think that if the hydrogen bomb is intended to be a deterrent, full information about its effects should be as widely known as possible; or is he, perhaps, apprehensive that if full details were known in this country, there would be hesitation about permitting its manufacture here?