§ 3. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of British Indian Ocean bases.
§ Mr. HealeyWe have no programme for creating bases in the British Indian Ocean territory. I can give no estimate of what such a programme might cost.
§ Mr. DalyellDoes this mean that the concept of island bases has been given up?
§ Mr. HealeyFor so long as I have been Secretary of State there has never been a concept of island bases. There has been the idea of establishing certain staging and other military facilities in certain territories in the Indian Ocean, and I have already given some figures about the sort of cost which might be involved. The only facility that we have at the moment in Gan—as I stated the other day—has cost us a total of only £6.25 million over the last 10 years.