§ 22. Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are being taken to maintain the effectiveness of the Polaris force by updating it.
§ Mr. MasonI have nothing further to add to the answers given by my hon. Friend on 11th and 13th December to the hon. Member for Tynemouth (Mr. Trotter).
§ Mr. HoyleIs my right hon. Friend aware that the hope is that the Polaris forces will be phased out and that it will not be very long before this is done?
§ Mr. MasonI have explained to the House many times that this will be subject to multilateral negotiations. We would like to get the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and the MBFR negotiations out of the way first before we start talking about Polaris and its withdrawal.