HC Deb 30 November 1964 vol 703 cc10-1
10. Mr. Fisher

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the retention of the British military base at Aden.

Mr. Healey

Her Majesty's Government's policy is to retain the base, in agreement with the Government of the Federation of South Arabia, for so long as it is required to serve the interests which we have in common.

Mr. Fisher

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we on this side of the House are very glad that something positive has come out of the meeting? Is he also aware that we welcome very much this decision, which we think will be welcomed also by many people in Aden and South Arabia who recognise that while we have strong strategic reasons for maintaining the base they also have strong economic reasons for wishing us to do so?

Mr. Healey

I believe that this is indeed the case, and the hon. Gentleman will remember that I made this point myself several months ago.

Mr. Kershaw

Will the right hon. Gentleman convey to his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer how very undesirable it is to continue to make uncertain pronouncements about the cut-back that we are going to make in our defence commitments, one of which may be Aden, because this encourages the sort of action which we saw yesterday, the very regrettable bomb explosions in Aden, because people think that they can shove us off if they try?

Mr. Healey

I think that the hon. Member, in seeking to link these two events, is making a connection which can bear no conceivable relationship to the truth, and he knows this as well as I do. If he regards uncertainty as to the commitments which this country will maintain as undesirable, he should not seek deliberately to increase that uncertainty by making unwarranted imputations about the remarks of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. Lipton

Would my right hon. Friend say what representation he is making to the Egyptian Government who are suspected of being responsible for these recent bomb outrages?

Mr. Healey

That is a question for my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary.

Mr. Thorneycroft

Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that the statements which have been made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which have put every rôle in doubt and made every project now unsure, is a state of affairs which could not continue without putting our defences at a very great disadvantage in the world? Will the right hon. Gentleman take the earliest opportunity of conveying to the Chancellor of the Exchequer the request that he does not make any more statements before Christmas, and himself try to clear up these defence aspects as soon as possible?

Mr. Healey

I am quite satisfied that what my right hon. Friend he Chancellor of the Exchequer said—I have seen the text of his statement and, of course, I heard it in the House, as all hon. Members did—is precisely in line with what I said on Monday of the previous week, occasioning no particular questioning from hon. Members opposite.