§ Q2. Mr. Martenasked the Prime Minister if Great Britain still has a stockpile of nuclear weapons.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement I made in answer to a Question by the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Blaker) on 17th June.
§ Mr. MartenIn view of the international situation and our overseas obligations, will the right hon. Gentleman give an assurance that he will not hand over this stockpile of nuclear weapons to any other country or organisation?
§ The Prime MinisterIn successive Questions week after week I have made it clear to the hon. Gentleman what our policy is. We intend to internationalise the so-called independent deterrent through our proposals in Europe and we hope to be able to work out something for the wider obligations to which the hon. Gentleman referred.
§ Mr. MaudlingDoes it also apply to our forces east of Suez?
§ The Prime MinisterWe welcome the right hon. Gentleman back from his visit abroad. If he had heard what I said last week on this subject he would know the answer. The reference in the last few words of my reply was to our obligations east of Suez.
§ Mr. Hugh JenkinsDoes not my right hon. Friend agree that the holding of independent stocks of nuclear weapons can only lead to proliferation? Is he aware that we, on this side of the House at any rate, welcome the policy of internationalising these weapons as being the same thing as preventing proliferation, which is the only thing which can lead to the total disappearance of these weapons from the world?
§ The Prime MinisterI made it clear the last time we debated the relevance of this to international schemes to stop proliferation that this is one of the main things in our minds in putting our proposals forward.
§ Mr. SoamesWill the Prime Minister confirm that, both with regard to the degree of our nuclear strength and to the extent of our national control over it, the situation remains the same today as it was when the Government took office?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. Of course, so far we have not reached agreement on our proposal to internationalise our nuclear strength. I would add that the international strength that the party opposite led the country to believe we had and what we found actually existed are two very different things.
§ Mr. PagetWill my right hon. Friend confirm that internationalisation does not affect the fact that we own and will continue to own nuclear weapons or that we own and will continue to own the means of delivery?
§ The Prime MinisterThat is the position about ownership, but they will be committed, and committed irrevocably, to N.A.T.O. so long as N.A.T.O. lasts.
§ Mr. GrimondCan the Prime Minister tell us to whom the proposals to internationalise nuclear weapons east of Suez have been made, what the current state of those proposals is, and what progress the Government are making with them?
§ The Prime MinisterThey are at an early stage yet for reasons which I have previously explained to the House. This is tied up very much with the anxiety of a number of countries, shall we say, east of Suez about the development of the Chinese nuclear device and the need to provide some kind of international assurance to those countries.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeThe House should be clear about this matter. Can the right hon. Gentleman explain it a little further? I thought he said that we would retain bomber capacity in the Far East with nuclear capacity. Are those bombers, therefore, to be included in the Atlantic Nuclear Force and be internationlised as well?
§ The Prime MinisterBombers east of Suez are not kept in the Atlantic Nuclear Force, which is in Europe, of course. I would have thought that that was a fairly simple proposition. The right hon. Gentleman misled the country about the extent of our nuclear forces, but any forces east of Suez, as I have said, are a matter for whatever international arrangements we can make in that area.