Five-Country Exercise (Malaysia) (Hansard, 4 February 1970)

§ 19. Mr. Wiggin
asked the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the cost of the United Kingdom contribution to the five-country exercise to be held in Malaysia in June.

§ Mr. Healey
If the exercise was cancelled and no substitute whatever arranged—an unrealistic assumption—the saving would be about £2½ million.

§ Mr. Wiggin
Would the Secretary of State bear in mind that, while welcoming co-operation with the other four Powers, it would be very questionable to draw lessons from this exercise if the troops arrived seven weeks before the start and the majority of the equipment was drawn from stockpiles in Singapore?

§ Mr. Healey
I certainly agree that any lessons drawn from the exercise must be contingent on the conditions under which it is carried out.

§ Sir Ian Orr-Ewing
As the Government's policy is to have a general capability in this area and to carry out extensive exercises from time to time, is it not essential that these stockpiles should be maintained if these commitments are to be honoured?

§ Mr. Healey
No, Sir, but I should be glad if the hon. Member would state how the Opposition would propose to reinforce these forces in the Far East after 1971 and how large a stockpile they propose to hold for that purpose. [HON.MEMBERS: "Answer"]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Questions must be put to the Government.

§ Mr. Ramsden
The Secretary of State should realise that a serious point has been raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, North (Sir Ian Orr-Ewing) — [HON.MEMBERS: "Answer"]—and he should not brush it off.How is the worldwide capability—

Hon. Members
Answer.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Too much heat, not enough light.

§ Mr. Ramsden
How do the Government propose to implement their undertaking to maintain a worldwide capability in the absence of any arrangements, for example, for acclimatisation which in the past have been held to be vital to such a potential?

§ Mr. Healey
It is true that in certain conditions troops require to be acclimatised before being put into combat, but that applies equally to reinforcements which the right hon. Member would propose to send out to any forces which he kept in the Far East. There is a problem in this, but I do not think he has a better answer to it than I have.