HC Deb 18 January 1967 vol 739 cc417-8
22. Mr. Wyatt

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what action has so far been taken to reduce the cost of maintaining bases and forces in the Mediterranean area, and east of Suez.

25. Mr. Barnett

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how his plans for savings on the foreign exchange costs of Great Britain's defence commitments east of Suez are progressing; if he will estimate the foreign exchange costs in each of the years to 1970; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Healey

I would ask my hon. Friends to await next month's publication of the Statement on the Defence Estimates.

Mr. Wyatt

As a former employee of Transport House, is not my right hon. Friend aware of the gravity of going against a conference decision which clearly instructed him promptly to get on with reducing the cost of our bases east of Suez and to make plans to withdraw them by 1970? Is he aware that he is the biggest single drain on our balance of payments and is the prime cause of our economic difficulties? Will he now try to reform himself?

Mr. Healey

On the first question, I learnt a good deal when I was at Transport House, and I have learnt a good deal by observing the fortunes of my hon. Friend as a result of his blind subservience to the decisions of party conferences. On the second question, total Government expenditure for all purposes overseas, including civil as well as defence purposes. represents only 8 per cent. of our total import bill. To regard that as the prime contributor to our economic problems shows a lack of balance.

Mr. Barnett

Would my right hon. Friend say how his present plans differ from the 1966 Defence Review and how they differ from the statement of the Prime Minister on 20th July? Would he confirm that the cuts which he referred to in answer to questions by some of my hon. Friends do not affect the Estimates set out in the 1966 Defence Review?

Mr. Healey

The big difference between the decisions envisaged and reported to the House in last year's White Paper and some of the decisions which I have indicated to the House on recent occasions is that, because of the balance of payments crisis last July, the Government decided to accelerate many of the redeployments which they envisaged by up to two years compared with the 1969–70 target. That means that the country will be benefiting in its foreign exchange by decisions taken since the Defence Review to a very large degree.