HC Deb 11 May 1976 vol 911 cc220-2
Mr. Luce

asked the Secretary of State for Defence when he next plans to meet the Secretary-General of NATO.

Mr. Mason

I met Dr. Luns when he was in London on 4th May. I expect to meet him again at the NATO spring ministerial meetings in Brussels next month.

Mr. Luce

Since Britain and the NATO European allies are to a large extent dependent upon supplies from trade routes outside NATO's direct area of responsibility, has the Secretary of State discussed with the Secretary-General of NATO—and if not, why not?—the practical measures that NATO is taking to ensure adequate protection for our merchant shipping against the Soviet naval threat in these areas?

Mr. Mason

Perhaps the hon. Member has not followed the close questioning on this matter which has taken place over the past 12 months. The Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, commissioned a study two years ago which is now complete, and has been sent to the different defence ministers of NATO for professional military opinion, and this will be discussed in the near future. That study is about the operating of NATO vessels outside areas to protect shipping lanes in war-time only.

Mr. James Lamond

Has the Secretary of State grasped the implications of what was said earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Sowerby (Mr. Madden)? While, nationally, Great Britain is tenth in GNP per capita among the 14 active members of NATO, its contribution to NATO is sixth on a per capita basis, and therefore there is an imbalance. Will my right hon. Friend draw this to the attention of the Secretary-General of NATO when he next meets him?

Mr. Mason

I am sure that the Secretary-General of NATO is aware of this. It my hon. Friend accepts the manifesto commitment that we should bring defence spending down, as a percentage of GNP, to that of our major European allies, he will accept that we were bound to do that, because we spent more. But if one takes it as a per capita or absolute level of defence spending, our major European allies, Germany and France, spend more than we do.

Mr. Jessel

As Italy appears to be in some danger of going Communist, what action are the Government taking to ensure that as few as possible of our military secrets are shared with Italy?

Mr.Mason

I thought that I gave an indication of our cautious approach in this matter earlier in Question Time.

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