§ 2.42 p.m.
§ LORD KENNETMy 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 whether, to their knowledge, the Soviet/American talks in Vienna on Strategic Arms Limitation are covering the possible reduction of the hundreds of medium-range Soviet nuclear missiles which can reach Western Europe but not the United States.]
1066§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN)My Lords, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in Vienna are a bilateral negotiation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States Government are also consulting closely with their NATO allies about the progress of these talks. But the negotiations are being carried on in the strictest confidence, and I am sure that the noble Lord will agree that we should respect this. Indeed, I think that the privacy in which the talks have been conducted and the absence of propaganda are particularly encouraging features of these important negotiations.
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, while I appreciate the force of what the noble Marquess has said, may I ask him whether he can tell the House what plans the Government have to seek an increase in our national security comparable to that which the Americans and the Russians are mutually seeking in theirs at Vienna?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIANMy Lords, while appreciating the noble Lord's sincerity in this matter, in which we all share, I think, if I may say so with respect, that the defences of this country are a different matter from the Question which he has down on the Order Paper, which concerns the bilateral talks between the Russians and the Americans. If it is a question of the defences of this country, if the noble Lord cares to put down a Question he will receive a prompt Answer from my noble friend the Minister of Defence.
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, is the noble Marquess aware that there is no defence against the hundreds of Soviet nuclear missiles which are the subject of my Question?
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, is the noble Marquess aware that he has made a most extraordinary statement in suggesting that the negotiations going on between the Soviet Union and the United States concerning strategic arms limitation are not connected with the security 1067 of this country? They are closely con nected with it, and the fact that nuclear weapons from Russia—
§ LORD CHALFONTMy Lords, is the noble Marquess aware that these missiles which are targeted on Europe from Western Russia are very closely connected with the security and the survival of this country; and will he give me an assurance that Her Majesty's Government will make these considerations plain to both parties in these negotiations?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LOTHIANMy Lords, of course I can give that assurance. I did not for one minute mean to suggest that I did not think that the SALT negotiations were of no interest to Her Majesty's Government, or indeed to any other European country.