HC Deb 15 October 1969 vol 788 cc379-80
5. Mr. van Straubenzee

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in disposing to Australia and New Zealand the communications equipment at present in use in Singapore.

Mr. Healey

This matter is under discussion with the Australian and New Zealand staffs in Singapore, with the object of ensuring that they are able to meet their requirements for communications facilities. I am confident that satisfactory arrangements can be made.

Mr. van Straubenzee

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that this complex of communications is of a very special value not only to ourselves but to others? Can he explain how it is that we are not applying to our negotiations with Australia and New Zealand in this respect the same attitude of mind as we are over certain installations which we have, in my view rightly, given to Singapore and Malaysia, whereas we propose making a charge in the case of communications?

Mr. Healey

I think that I would be in very serious trouble with the Public Accounts Committee if I agreed that we gave away to anybody who asked for it any equipment that happened to be in Malaysia and Singapore. Fixed installations—things that cannot be moved from Malaysia and Singapore—and equipment necessary to make them operable are being handed over free of charge to the Malaysian and Singapore Governments if they wish to use them for defence or economic purposes. But the equipment to which the hon. Gentleman refers is largely movable operational equipment of great sophistication and complexity, and there is no reason why Governments that wish to use it rather than ourselves should not pay for it.

Sir Ian Orr-Ewing

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that under the present Government there is a need for a general capability in that part of the world and also for major exercises, and that sophisticated communications are essential for both these operational needs? If Australia cannot pay the very large sum being asked of her for the equipment, will the right hon. Gentleman leave it on a care and maintenance basis so that it can be used for the purposes to which the Government are committed?

Mr. Healey

That is another hypothetical question, and I do not accept the hypothesis. The negotiations on this matter between Britain and the other Governments concerned are proceeding satisfactorily. I have no reason to doubt that the communications equipment required will be available on the terms we suggest.