§ THE EARL OF CORK AND ORRERYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they contemplate for protection against nuclear fall-out in the event of a war in which we ourselves are not involved.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (LORD STONHAM)My Lords, the measures necessary for protection against nuclear fall-out in a war involving this country could also be applied, if necessary, during a war in which we were not involved. The most important element in such protection is a system for detecting the existence and forecasting the movement of radioactive fall-out and for giving warning to the public. This service is provided by the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation.
§ THE EARL OF CORK AND ORRERYMy Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord for that Answer, but what I am asking has to do particularly with protection rather than with warning. May I ask whether there are any measures in contemplation for the actual protection of the public in the event of nuclear fall-out travelling around the world?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation, including of course the 24,000 warning points, has been preserved at operational readiness. We have the posts manned by the Royal Observer Corps, and collectively, including help from our NATO Allies, they monitor and forecast the movement and intensity of radioactive fall-out and give warning to the public. When those warnings are given, so far as protection is concerned the best protection is to get under cover and to remain under cover until the fall-out is no longer intense: and information will be conveyed to the public by the B.B.C. and other sources.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether he would not agree that the only way to prevent damage from nuclear warfare is to abolish nuclear warfare? Would he also not agree with me, therefore, that the step that we might take is to prevent the Government spokesman from proclaiming to the world that Britain is prepared to engage in nuclear warfare?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, I would say that my noble friend's first proposition was sound. With regard to the second part of her question, this country and Government have always taken the lead, and continue to take the initiative, towards the step we all desire.
BARONESS SUMMER SKILLMy Lords, in a supplementary question, may I ask whether my noble friend has not observed in the newspapers that our Government representative said only last week that if such and such a thing did happen we should have to engage in nuclear warfare? Am I not correct?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, I am not able to say whether my noble friend is correct or not. I am quite sure that what she has asked does not arise out of this Question.
§ LORD BROOKE OF CUMNORMy Lords, to refer to my noble friend's original Question, may I ask the Government whether they are sure that their destruction of the Civil Defence Service in this country has not destroyed an essential link between the monitoring organisation and the general public?
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, no, I am quite certain that that is not so. The noble Lord, Lord Brooke of Cumnor, has great knowledge of these matters, and I am answering a question which poses the hypothesis of a distant attack in which we are not involved. Whether it is a distant attack, or an attack on this country, the organisation to which I have referred is operational and remains operational, and the warnings I have mentioned and the assistance I referred to could and would be given.
§ LORD DERWENTMy Lords, the noble Lord has said that the warning system is in full force. My noble friend's original Question asked what steps the Government are taking for protection, which is not at all the same thing.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, I also answered the question about protection in reply to the noble Earl, Lord Cork and Orrery, but again I must inform the noble Lord that I am answering a Question about an attack in which this country is not involved, not an attack on this country. As he will recall, if there were likelihood 527 of nuclear attack on this country, we expect that there would be some warning of it, and the Government of the day would take whatever steps, additional steps, were necessary to protect the people of this country.
§ LORD DERWENTMy Lords, do the Government really think there would be the time?
LORD INGLEWOODMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether there has been a change of thinking about this matter? When the Civil Defence was in full operation, it was always represented to us as protection against nuclear fall-out, whether we were engaged in the war or not. It was a very serious problem and one against which protection was extremely difficult. Now from the noble Lord's reply one gathers that all one has to do is to stay indoors and listen to one's radio.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, no; as so often occurs when the noble Lord puts a supplementary question, he endeavours to introduce a note of levity which does not come off. I must remind him that I am referring to and answering a Question about nuclear fall-out arising from a nuclear explosion in a war in which this country is not involved. The question the noble Lord puts refers to one where this country is involved in a nuclear war.
§ SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: No.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, he poses the question of a nuclear attack. If we are talking in reply to the noble Earl's Question, I say we have in existence something which could be activated, whatever protection is necessary, to protect the people of this country from radioactive fall-out occurring from a distant explosion.