HC Deb 27 October 1965 vol 718 cc147-9
34. Mr. Wall

asked the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make a statement on the Government's review of defence policy.

The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Denis Healey)

At this stage I have nothing to add to the statement which I made to the House on 5th August.

Mr. Wall

Can the right hon. Gentleman say when he intends to make a statement and whether it will be in the form of a White Paper, or whether the present form of allowing leak after leak to occur, in order to make it more palatable, will be followed?

Mr. Healey

I can assure the House that when I am in a position to do so I shall make a statement that is both clear and agreed by my colleagues, unlike the defence review statement of the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell), which has been corrected or rejected by every single member of the Conservative Shadow Cabinet, including the Leader.

Mr. Shinwell

In view of the varying views on defence expressed in all quarters of the House, including some rather strange views recently expressed, can we have an assurance that, before the Government come to definite conclusions upon the subject of defence, the House will have an opportunity of being heard and being able to express its views? Can we be assured that there will be no fait accompli?

Mr. Healey

I think my right hon. Friend knows that it is not possible to spend money on defence without getting authority from this House. I can assure the House that it will have an opportunity to discuss the decisions of the Government when they are taken.

Mr. Powell

Following what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, does the Secretary of State realise how difficult it is, both for the House and for the country, to form a judgment on the individual decisions which he has been announcing for some months, on the subject of defence, without having any knowledge of the tendency and trend of the Government's defence review, or any forecast of when they are to know what their decisions are to be?

Mr. Healey

I am surprised at the right hon. Gentleman's remark, because the right hon. Gentlemen opposite seem to have no difficulty in reaching decisions on the wisdom of all the decisions we have taken in the last 12 months.

Mr. Powell

When will the right hon. Gentleman realise that he is here to answer Questions and not to ask them?

Mr. Frank Allaun

Is the Minister aware that, unlike most of those opposite, many of us on these benches want far bigger, not smaller, cuts in our arms expenditure than at present proposed? Is he aware that we feel that the figure of £2,045 million at current prices, stated in the National Plan for 1970, means an increase of about £2,400 million a year, which is too much for this country to afford?

Mr. Healey

I think that my hon. Friend is over-pessimistic about the trend of prices and incomes during the next four years. I can assure him that the target which the Government have set themselves involves a cut of 16 per cent. in the programme that we inherited from the previous Administration.