HC Deb 13 July 1960 vol 626 cc1377-9
20. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Secretary of State for War what is the estimate of annual cost to maintain the Army in the proposed bases in Cyprus.

Mr. H. Fraser

The extra cost, compared with that of keeping the same troops in the United Kingdom, will be about £4½ million a year. This excludes capital expenditure.

Mr. Shinwell

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that I do not want to know the extra cost? I want to know the estimated actual cost.

Mr. Fraser

The gross cost would be about £13 million per year.

Mr. Shinwell

Is not this a lot of money to spend on this? Surely the War Office does not intend to spend £13 million a year on maintaining a base in Cyprus? Is that really necessary?

Mr. Fraser

I tried to make it clear in reply to the right hon. Gentleman that what we have to consider here is the actual difference in expense between keeping these troops in this country and keeping them in Cyprus, and the difference is £4½ million.

Mr. Strachey

What was the capital cost?

Mr. Fraser

That is an annual expenditure—I am prepared to give an answer about capital cost afterwards—and, surely, on these figures, we should consider not the gross cost but the difference in the cost. I believe that this money is well spent.

Mr. Strachey

Will the hon. Gentleman agree that the capital cost is in the nature of £90 million, and that this gives a very different impression of the total cost?

Mr. Fraser

The actual sum to be spent over the next six, seven or eight years on capital cost is £16 million.

Mr. F. Noel-Baker

Will the hon. Gentleman help the House in relation to tomorrow's debate? It has been said that the presence of troops in Cyprus is going to mean something like £16 million a year to the economy of that country. How does this tie up with the figure of £13 million which he has just given?

Mr. Fraser

If the hon. Gentleman will wait until tomorrow, I think he will get the estimates of all the Services' expenditure.

Mr. Shinwell

Is not this becoming a very expensive business, what with this £12 million which Makarios has blackmailed us into giving to the Cyprus administration, the capital cost, and the money spent in the last two years, and now the annual cost? Is this adventure worth while?

Mr. Fraser

No one knows more than the right hon. Gentleman himself that defence is an expensive matter. We believe that it is a good investment, and the Government are in no doubt of the need to maintain our base and a balanced, acclimatised military force in the Eastern Mediterranean, and this is the way we will do it in Cyprus.

Mr. Strachey

Would he not agree that, taking past capital cost and current expenditure, which must be well over £100 million, if this money had been spent on an airlift and a central strategic reserve it would have given us far better value in terms of security in the Middle East?

Mr. Fraser

I believe that both these things are necessary. We must have a base and an airlift, and both, we think, are of considerable importance.