Wintex-Cimex 85

HC Deb 04 March 1985 vol 74 cc644-5

7. Mr. D. E. Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Wales whether he is satisfied with his Department's involvement in Wintex-Cimex 85; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

I am absolutely satisfied that it is rigiht for the Welsh Office to participate in this sort of exercise, although on this occasion the involvement was very small.

Mr. Thomas

Does the Minister accept that this exercise is provocative in terms of its cold-war stance, given that we are pursuing arms control negotiations? Is it not also concerned with internal security, and does not his Department's involvement point to the fact that he has now achieved devolution for Wales by means of departmental civil servants planning for war?

Mr. Edwards

That is the most arrant nonsense that I have heard for a very long time. There is nothing provocative in testing plans and communications systems aimed at coping with some future crisis. What we are doing has been done by successive Governments for many years.