HC Deb 11 February 1997 vol 290 cc132-3
10. Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what new proposals he has to increase receipts from the sale of surplus defence equipment. [13724]

Mr. Arbuthnot

The Disposal Sales Agency continues to involve private sector companies under contract to the agency. The agency is to broaden its customer base to include disposal sales services on behalf of other Government Departments.

Mr. Flynn

Why did the Government spend £13 million on HMS Battleaxe and sell it off cheaply within 12 months? Why did they spend £25 million on HMS Andromeda and sell it within a very short time to India for £65,000? Why did they spend £155 million on HMS Renown, which has never been operational since and is about to be scrapped? Is this not financial incompetence on an olympic scale?

Mr. Arbuthnot

No, it is not. We have the youngest Navy in living memory, and the sheer fighting power of our Navy is a tribute to the investment that the Government have made in the Navy in buying new ships and in ordering such things as the landing platform dock replacement craft, which we ordered last year, and ships like HMS Ocean, which will produce an incredibly powerful attacking force. We shall be able to maintain the amphibious capability because we shall be re-elected at the next general election.

Mr. Harry Greenway

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is a certain hypocrisy about those who demand smaller profits or no profits from the sales of defence equipment but more expenditure on social services, including those relating to unemployment and the like? Does that not need to be properly thought through, especially by the Labour party, which seems to have no values at all?

Mr. Arbuthnot

It is difficult to say whether the Labour party has no values at all because its members present different sets of values according to whom they are talking to. They try to be all things to all men. They try to pretend that they believe in the defence of the country, when we know that they would undermine not only our armed forces, but our defence industry. Our defence industry is stronger than it has ever been. Last year, we had the best ever export results. That performance would be undermined by the Labour party: it would undermine defence exports just as it would undermine the defence industry.