Cyprus Base (Hansard, 27 March 1963)

§ 40. Mr. Frank Allaun
asked the Minister of Defence when agreement was reached with the Government of Cyprus that the British base there should be used for rockets or nuclear weapons.

§ The Minister of Defence (Mr. Peter Thorneycroft)
No question arises of seeking agreement to the deployment of weapons in sovereign base areas.

§ Mr. Allaun
Will the Minister assure the House that there are no plans for the basing of nuclear weapons, rockets or Polaris submarines on the island?

§ Mr. Thorneycroft
No. The essence of a sovereign base area is that we can deploy such weapons as we think fit at such time as we think fit.

§ Mr. Allaun
Surely the Cypriot people—who are very concerned about this—are entitled to know whether the Government will base these things there.

§ Mr. Thorneycroft
No Government would ever give an assurance as to the types of weapon which they would deploy in the future in a sovereign base area.

§ Mr. Paget
As we have no harbour we could not very well have Polaris there.

§ Mr. Thorneycroft
This certainly would be a handicap.