HC Deb 29 November 1983 vol 49 cc750-1
5. Mr. Proctor

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give the cost in each of the last two years of the British Army of the Rhine.

Mr. Stanley

As stated in table 2.2 in volume 2 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates 1983", the cost of the British Army of the Rhine was estimated to be some £1,302 million in 1981–82 and £1,512 million in 1982–83. These figures are at the Estimates prices for the years concerned.

Mr. Proctor

In view of the large expenditure on the British Army of the Rhine, will my hon. Friend ascertain whether, in the short term, the German Government are prepared to pay an increased contribution to the costs of BAOR? In the long term, given that there is pressure on the defence budget, will my hon. Friend look carefully at the reasons and arguments for the continuation of BAOR?

Mr. Stanley

The last Labour Government agreed that the previous offset arrangements would come to an end, and this occurred in 1980.

We regard the defence of West Germany and the whole of the central front as being indivisible from the defence of the United Kingdom. The Government's firm policy is to maintain our existing commitment to the 55,000 troops in BAOR. If those forces were brought back to this country, a high proportion of the cost to which I referred would still be incurred, because a large amount is represented by, for example, the pay of and the fuel used by those forces.

Mr. Allan Roberts

Does the Minister accept that the vast majority of the British people who support Britain having nuclear weapons do so in the belief that those weapons will deter an invasion of Europe by conventional forces and, therefore, will lessen the need for the use of BAOR? Is much of this expenditure wasted? Does the Minister agree that any conventional war in Europe in which BAOR would be involved would inevitably escalate into a nuclear conflict?

Mr. Stanley

It is fundamental to the whole posture of NATO's deterrent policy that we deter at the nuclear and the conventional level, since both are equally essential.