§ 2.48 p.m.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will restate briefly the United Kingdom's commitments to NATO and WEU and give an assurance that there has been and will be no failure to meet them in full without the consent of our allies.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)My Lords, as we made clear in our recent Defence White Paper, the Government are fully committed to maintaining an effective British contribution to NATO, which remains the first and overriding charge on our resources available for defence. Our commitment under the Brussels Treaty, as subsequently amended, is to maintain 55,000 men and a tactical air force on the mainland of Europe. If there were any question of important quantitative or qualitative change in our contribution to NATO defence we should, of course, as in the past, consult our allies.
Lord CHELWOODMy Lords, I am grateful for that reply, the very last part of which seemed to be somewhat evasive. 1326 Bearing in mind the fact that some nine-tenths of Britain's Defence Budget is related, directly or indirectly, to NATO, may I ask the noble Lord whether he can give an assurance that when any further cuts in Defence are agreed there will be no diminution whatsoever in Britain's contribution to NATO in the immediate or foreseeable future?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSYes, indeed, my Lords. The last occasion on which there was a diminution in our commitment to NATO was in 1958 when another Government were in power, when there was a reduction in manpower while the tactical air force was maintained. We have maintained that position until today and we shall not change it in any way without full consultation with our allies.
§ Lord SLATERMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that it is quite obvious from the reply he has given to this Question that we are not running away from our commitments so far as NATO is concerned. Could he inform the House whether the French Government have given any further consideration to making an application to rejoin NATO?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I could not speak for the policy of the French Government in relation to this or any other matter, but I can assure my noble friend that the position of France is fully understood by her Allies in NATO.
Lord CHELWOODMy Lords, does the noble Lord agree that the cuts that were originally proposed, which were frightening in their size, could not possibly have been tolerated by the Chiefs of Staff or by our NATO Allies.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, the noble Lord is speculating about possible cuts that may be now being considered. I can best answer that question and reassure the noble Lord by referring him to the words used by my right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence on 10th December in another place when he said:
Any current review of Defence expenditure is no more than part of the usual annual public expenditure survey conducted by successive Governments at this time of the year when the future programmes of all spending departments are subject to close scrutiny".
Lord CHELWOODMy Lords, I take it that the noble Lord is referring to the Minister of State who said that he would resign if cuts on the scale first proposed were made.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I do not think that my right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence said anything of the kind and I refuse to follow the noble Lord into speculation as to what other Ministers may have said, according to the Press.