§ 42. Mr. Rankinasked the Prime Minister what further discussions he has had with the United States Government 553 since 1st November, regarding the establishment of a base in the United Kingdom for United States submarines carrying Polaris missiles; and if he will now give further details of the agreement reached with the United States Government on this matter.
§ The Prime MinisterI have nothing to add to what I have already said on this subject.
§ Mr. RankinMay we conclude, as a result of the Questions on 8th November, that we now have an agreement with America which covers only the bases, and an understanding between the right hon. Gentleman and President Eisenhower which covers submarines and missiles? If that be the case, will he take the first opportunity, after Mr. Kennedy has become President of the United States of America, to make sure that he interprets this understanding in exactly the same way as the right hon. Gentleman and President Eisenhower interpret it? Also, if he meets Mr. Kennedy will he make it clear to him that the whole of the organised working-class opinion on Clyde side is hostile to the bases in Holy Loch?
§ The Prime MinisterOn the main point which I think the hon. Gentleman——
§ Mr. RankinThe third point is the main one.
§ The Prime MinisterI have nothing to add to the explanation I gave both in my speech and in, I think, half an hour of questions as to the details. As regards what I think was his main point, whether with the new Administration I would seek to make it perfectly clear that the same general principles which were agreed with the present Administration would hold good, of course I would naturally assume that they did. It would show great lack of confidence to conceive that they would be altered, but of course this matter would naturally be discussed and we would reaffirm our positions when I have an opportunity of meeting the new President after he takes office.
§ Mr. Emrys HughesHas the Prime Minister's attention been drawn to the fact mentioned in today's papers that the United States have now decided to cut down expenditure? Will he consider telling Mr. Kennedy that this £50 million 554 spent on the Polaris submarine is an expenditure which could very well be cut? Will he suggest to him also that if American wives and children are to be taken home, it would be safer to send the husbands and keep the wives here?
§ The Prime MinisterI will make quite sure, through diplomatic and other channels, that all the proposals which the hon. Gentleman makes on this and germane subjects are brought to the attention of the American Administration.
Mr. Gresham CookeIs my right hon. Friend aware that for many years in the south of England there have been American air bases and that it has been generally known by the people living near those bases that hydrogen or atom bombs have been stored there? That knowledge has been accepted with equanimity for many years and the fact that hon. Gentlemen from Scotland are squealing about the staging-post of the Polaris submarine is causing a good deal of resentment in the south of England.
§ The Prime MinisterAll these matters are questions of balance in the arrangements that we are trying to make.
§ Mr. WarbeyCan the Prime Minister say whether the understanding to which he has referred is something which exists only in his own mind—with all the proper value that has to be attributed to so insubstantial a phenomenon—or is it something precise, written on paper, to which the American Government can be held?
§ The Prime MinisterAs I have said, these are interchanges which are of a written character.
§ Mr. ManuelIs not the Prime Minister aware that the details which he has disclosed have been of a very meagre nature? Does not he think that the concern and anxiety that has been aroused among the people of Scotland—people in all walks of life, from the church and trade unions to those in politics and local authority—require that he should be more forthcoming and give some real information, and not continue to sidestep the general principles which he agreed with the American President that the Polaris base should be in Scotland, or anywhere else in this country? 555 Will he inform his hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Mr. Gresham Cooke) who likes this sort of thing in his constituency, that we will willingly transfer the Polaris base, free of charge, to his constituency?
§ The Prime MinisterI should have thought that our position in this House is fairly clear. There are some—and I quite understand their views—who do not think that there should be a deterrent, whether British, N.A.T.O. or American. There are others who accept that, in the balance of advantage, the stronger, the more powerful and the more immediate the certainty of any reply to an aggressive attack upon us the less likely it is to happen. That is a division of view. What I do not understand are those who think that we should have a deterrent and then not try to make it as powerful and as strong as possible.