HL Deb 06 February 1957 vol 201 cc561-4

4.0 p.m.

LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, with the leave of the House I should like to intervene to make a short statement upon the recent visit of my right honourable friend the Minister of Defence to Washington and Ottawa.

The main purpose of my right honourable friend's visit to Washington last week was to have a thorough exchange of views with the United States defence authorities on a wide range of military matters. Similarly, his two-day visit to Ottawa gave him an opportunity of discussing a number of problems of common concern in the military and international fields with the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Defence and the Canadian Chiefs of Staff.

His discussions with Mr. Charles Wilson, the United States Secretary of Defence, showed that there is full accord between our two Governments on the broad objectives of the defence policy to be pursued. En particular, my right honourable friend and the United States Secretary of Defence reaffirmed the importance of N.A.T.O. and other regional alliances as a vital means of safeguarding peace and stability.

They reviewed the arrangements previously made for collaboration between the United States and Britain in military research and development, with particular reference to guided rockets. It was agreed that both countries had derived considerable benefit from co-operation, and they decided to extend still further this joint work. A possible scheme for the adoption by Britain of certain American weapons was discussed, and this is now being examined by the two Governments and their Service staffs.

My right honourable friend explained to the United States Government that, for economic as well as for military reasons, we were reviewing the shape and size of our forces and that Her Majesty's Government had decided that a substantial reduction in the demands of defence upon manpower, materials and money must be effected. Although no country welcomes a reduction in military effort by its allies, he found in Washington a sympathetic understanding of the circumstances which make it necessary for us to lighten our defence burden. In this connection, it is fully recognised that financial and economic stability is an essential foundation of military strength and that due account must be taken of this in considering what contribution each nation can reasonably be expected to make to the common defence effort.

Throughout his meetings with Mr. Wilson and the American defence authorities, as well as in his talks with Mr. John Foster Dulles, my right honourable friend found a warm desire, which is fully shared by Her Majesty's Government, to see an immediate resumption of the special and intimate relationship which has so long existed between Britain and the United States and which is so important for the peace of the world.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGH

My Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord for making in this House the statement which has been made by the Minister in another place. I welcome it for three or four specific reasons. The first is that I am glad to note, in the last paragraph of his statement, a return to a better understanding between ourselves and the United States, which I hope—and I am sure all your Lordships hope—will be very much progressed. It is over seven, years since I signed in Washington the military agreement on the first real wide basis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Those of us who had connection with it then were seriously concerned about the events of the last few months, which led to a feeling of strain, and possible deterioration in the relationships that had led to that Treaty. I welcome the statement, too, because it shows that the Government have been having an inquiry, at least of their own, into our defences in relation to our present economic position and into the modern trend of events in arms generally.

The House may recall that for, I think, almost every year since March, 1952, I have been asking the Government to have a comprehensive inquiry into this matter. I am glad to notice, in what the noble Lord said, that the basic argument I used on those occasions is now put into this statement. That is, that it is fully recognised that financial and economic stability is an essential foundation of military strength and that due account must be taken of this in considering what contribution each nation can reasonably be expected to make to the common defence effort. I welcome the statement, therefore, from the point of view that some inquiry has taken place, and that one of the basic reasons we have advanced has been accepted.

The third reason why I welcome the statement is that at last something is being done, and apparently the serious difficulty in which we have been placed by the constant changing in the office of the Minister of Defence is to be overcome. There have been seven Ministers of Defence since I left office in that Department in March, 1950, six of them in the last five and a quarter years. That is quite an amazing sequence of events in such a vastly important Department, one which will be increasingly important in the future. I hope that now that a start has been made on doing something, we shall find something done. I am sure that we are all in favour of having our defences, in agreement with our allies, brought into proper relationship with what we can afford, and having regard also to what contribution certain other countries in the N.A.T.O. organisation can make. But obviously this will mean a considerable upset in our own economic internal affairs for some time to come, and I hope the Government will be able to say that they are already studying and making plans to try to deal with that situation in the best possible manner; otherwise we may be in for rather a serious period of dislocation in industry and employment.

LORD REA

My Lords, we on these Benches should also like to thank the noble Lord for his statement, and to couple with our thanks our congratulations to the Minister of Defence not only on the success of his Mission but also on developing the atmosphere which he found on the other side of the Atlantic. The noble Viscount who leads the Opposition has indulged in a little of, "I told you so." Perhaps I may be forgiven if I say the same in noting that Her Majesty's Government have decided that a substantial reduction in the expenditure on defence, on manpower, materials and money must be effected. One or two lone voices were crying in the wilderness a year or two ago saying this, and I claim to be one of them. That view is growing, and it gives us great satisfaction that Her Majesty's Government are coming round to the fact that one cannot spend without limit on defence, irrespective of the economic situation. That particular position seems to me to tic up with the debate which we are in the midst of this afternoon, and perhaps I may be allowed to say a few words about that later,

LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, I am grateful to both noble Lords who have spoken for their kind reference to the success of my right honourable friend's mission to Washington and Ottawa. I am glad that the statement I made meets with their approval—mainly, so far as I can see, because it is what they themselves have been saying in the years gone by. I am glad to say that much of the statement was also included in a maiden speech which I made in your Lordships' House more than seven years ago.