§ 13. Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Defence what measures he is taking to meet the threat from the chemical weapons manufactured and held by the Soviet Union; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StanleyWe are continually improving our defensive equipment and clothing against chemical attack.
The Government are also doing their utmost to secure progress in achieving a comprehensive, verifiable and world-wide ban on the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons, together with the destruction of existing storks, at the conference on disarmament in Geneva. We tabled important new proposals on verification in February and July this year.
§ Mr. GreenwayWill my right hon. Friend remind advocates on the Opposition Benches and in CND who are in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament by us that our unilateral abandonment of chemical weapons in the 1950s did not evoke a similar response from the Soviet Union? Is it not an irony that we now have to depend on the nuclear deterrent against the massive armoury of chemical weapons held by the Soviet Union?
§ Mr. StanleyMy hon. Friend is right. The massive Soviet procurement of chemical weapons is the most clear and eloquent illustration of the naivety of one-sided nuclear disarmament.
§ Mr. Robert C. BrownWill the Minister continue to resist the blandishments of those on his Back Benches on the issue of chemical weapons? Will he assure the House that he will continue to see that Her Majesty's armed forces receive the best possible equipment to withstand any possible chemical attack?
§ Mr. StanleyWe are devoting many resources to improving our defensive equipment. There is no change in our policy, and we are working as constructively and earnestly as we can to achieve a world-wide ban on chemical weapons, which would be an enormous advance for mankind.