HC Deb 01 June 1965 vol 713 cc1506-7
Q2. Mr. Hamling

asked the Prime Minister what is his policy on the future place of nuclear weapons in Great Britain's military strategy; and whether he will make a statement.

The Prime Minister

I have nothing to add to the statements made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence and myself in the defence debates of 16th and 17th December and of 3rd and 4th March.

Mr. Hamling

Is my right hon. Friend aware that we on these benches look forward to the time when Britain will no longer depend at all on nuclear weapons?

The Prime Minister

Sir, I have made it clear in debate, and I should be glad to make it clear on another occasion, that it is our purpose to internationalise the use of nuclear weapons until we can get a world disarmament agreement getting rid of them altogether.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Whatever the future may hold, is it not a fact that the nuclear situation with regard to our armaments is exactly the same as it was a year ago, and may I congratulate the Prime Minister on that?

The Prime Minister

No, Sir. Unlike a year ago, when the whole of our nuclear defence policy was based on an electoral pretence, when everything the right hon. Gentleman said on this was systematically misleading the country as to the true facts, the situation today is that we have made proposals for internationalising nuclear weapons on the only basis that makes sense—interdependence.

Mr. Mendelson

In the more limited field of N.A.T.O. strategy in Europe, has my right hon. Friend seen the reports that the Secretary of State for Defence is at this moment putting forward a plan for N.A.T.O. which would increase our immediate need to use tactical nuclear weapons in the case of any conflict? Is not this policy in complete contradiction to the policy of the Labour Party? Is it not also true that it would be much better, though there might be a desire to save currency by reducing troops there, not to save currency at the expense of making the use of tactical nuclear weapons necessary earlier than was planned?

The Prime Minister

It is quite clear that my hon. Friend, despite his very high degree of homework on reading newspaper reports, has totally misunderstood what my right hon. Friend has said in Paris. So far from increasing the dependence on nuclear weapons, we are asking for a new and up-to-date review of what has now become a totally out-of-date situation in respect of both conventional and nuclear weapons in the N.A.T.O. Alliance.