HC Deb 10 April 1984 vol 58 cc183-4
5. Mr. Ron Brown

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the current security situation at Greenham common.

Mr. Clay

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the current security situation at Greenham common.

Mr. Stanley

On the security situation at Greenham common, I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Berkshire, East (Mr. MacKay) on 17 January, at columns 152–53. The training of the personnel stationed there in their various operational roles continues both on and off base.

Mr. Brown

Is it not evident that the peace women have not been defeated and that, judging by last night's events, they should be congratulated? Of course, there is another point. Which authorities, if any, have agreed to chariots of death being trundled around their counties, or is this an academic matter? Does local democracy not mean much today? It seems that the Government are not interested in democracy.

Mr. Stanley

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the off base training continues and will continue for as long as the cruise missiles are there.

Mr. Clay

As the Government's latest repressive little ploy to close down protest at Greenham has evidently failed and as deployments outside the base are still nocturnal and very brief, do the Government think that the United States will ever be able fully to deploy these missiles outside the base without imprisoning the entire peace movement in Britain?

Mr. Stanley

I assure the hon. Gentleman that off base training has started well and, I am sure, will continue equally well.

Mr. McQuarrie

Now that we have now got rid of most of the Greenham common women, due to the Department of Transport getting authority to take over the land, will my hon. Friend ensure that the security fences are made stronger to prevent the women getting through or jumping over them and creating problems within the base?

Mr. Stanley

I shall not comment on the athleticism of the ladies. I assure my hon. Friend that the degree of security of the various fences increases as one gets closer to the actual ground-launched cruise missile site. In our view it would not be a cost-effective use of defence resources to create a massively expensive Berlin wall-type fence around the outer perimeter.

Mr. Stokes

Does my hon. Friend agree that most reasonable people are delighted that the women are being removed? Does not the whole episode show what a wonderfully tolerant country this is?

Mr. Stanley

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I think that the treatment of the Greenham women by the civil authorities is the most eloquent testimony of the contrast between this country and the Soviet Union.

Mr. Skinner

Is not the truth of the matter that it is the Americans who are the real decision-makers in Britain? Is it not a sad state of affairs, related to security at Greenham, that the Government have now allowed the Americans in the Pentagon to decide where Britain's bypasses and road widening schemes will be built so that they can get rid of these women?

Mr. Stanlby

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the British Government retain complete control over the execution of all highway works in this country.