HC Deb 14 October 1968 vol 770 cc26-8
40. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what measures the Government have in contemplation as an additional contribution in manpower and weapons by the United Kingdom to increase the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's military strength.

Mr. Mulley

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has been carrying out a thorough assessment of the implications of events in Czechoslovakia for the defence policy of the Alliance, including force levels. Much progress has been made with these studies and last week my right hon. Friend discussed the situation informally in New York with his North Atlantic Treaty Organisation colleagues. Further meetings are envisaged before it will be possible to give details of any additional contributions.

Mr. Shinwell

Can I have an assurance from my right hon. Friend that the Government will not allow themselves to be panicked by what has happened in Czechoslovakia and increase military expenditure? But if it is necessary as a result of a survey of the position and the possibility of aggression against the Western European countries can we have a definite assurance that a proper contribution will be made by West Germany, at any rate equivalent to the contribution made by the United Kingdom?

Mr. Mulley

I can certainly give the assurance that we shall not be panicked into any decisions of the kind my right hon. Friend mentions. The studies are still going on within N.A.T.O. and from his great experience my right hon. Friend will realise that it would be unwise for us to make a forecast of what might happen ahead of the meetings concerned.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

While the studies are going on, cannot the Government at least stop reducing the potential manpower contribution which we can make, and cancel the proposed disbandment of the Argylls and the Second Battalion, Scots Guards, and units?

Mr. Mulley

I am sure the right hon. Gentleman would not wish the Foreign Office to become entangled in that dispute.

Mr. Frank Allaun

As Mr. Clifford said yesterday that America will not increase her forces in Europe, will Her Majesty's Government do the same? Are talks in N.A.T.O. still continuing on balanced mutual force reductions with the Warsaw Alliance, or have they been jettisoned as a result of Czechoslovakia—where increased N.A.T.O. forces would not have made a whit of difference to that terrible situation?

Mr. Mulley

I cannot answer for the United States Government. We shall be considering our position and reporting to the House when the discussions with our allies have been completed. I assure my hon. Friend that it remains the policy of Her Majesty's Government to pursue the possibility of mutual balanced force reductions in Europe as hard now as we have done previously.

Mr. Eldon Griffiths

How does the Minister square his concern about Czechoslovakia with the Prime Minister's statement the other day that he expects to make more cuts in defence expenditure than were planned at the beginning of the year? Will he repudiate flatly his hon. Friend's suggestions at Blackpool two weeks ago that we should halve B.A.O.R., give up Polaris and get out of N.A.T.O.?

Mr. Mulley

We should trespass unduly on the time of the House if we were to go over all our Blackpool debates today. The Labour Party gave the answer to the hon. Gentleman. The proposition that we should reduce our contribution to N.A.T.O. by half was rejected.

Sir Dingle Foot

In view of the events in Czechoslovakia this summer and the manifest expansion of the Red Fleet both in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, has not it become imperative that Her Majesty's Government should review the panic defence cuts of last January?

Mr. Mulley

I do not see the exact relevance of our forces in the Far and Middle East to the Mediterranean in the context my right hon. and learned Friend indicates.