§ 2.56 p.m.
§ 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 who would be responsible in time of war for the protection of the British energy sources in the North Sea.
Viscount LONGMy Lords, as my noble friend said in his closing speech on the Defence Estimates on 8th May, the protection of North Sea energy resources in time of war is covered by NATO contingency plans for the defence of the area.
§ The Earl of CORK and ORRERYMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for stepping into the breach at short notice to answer this Question on behalf of his and my noble friend the Minister. Is he aware that it is precisely because I received that Answer from the Minister of State in the debate to which he has referred that I tabled the Question again, the Answer having been totally unsatisfactory in the first place and therefore equally unsatisfactory now? Does the noble Viscount further appreciate that if the responsibility for the defence of Britain's North Sea oil and gas in time of war were not to rest with the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Army, the Ministry of Defence, the British Government or indeed the British nation, the inference must be made—and is made—that there is no intention to defend these energy resources at all? In that case, what particular measures do the Government have in mind for defending our other sources of oil, notably those which come to us around the Cape of Good Hope?
Viscount LONGMy Lords, I am having to apologise to my noble kinsman but the Question concerns North Sea oil and not other sources of oil and other oceans.
§ Lord CHALFONTMy Lords, if the defence of these resources in time of war is a matter for contingency plans in NATO, may I ask the noble Viscount whose responsibility is it to defend them in times which are not times of war?
Viscount LONGMy Lords, in the situation we have at the moment it is the chief constable who defends the position, but in wartime of course it would be up to war commanders.
§ Lord CHALFONTMy Lords, may I perhaps make my question a little clearer for the noble Viscount to understand? Suppose that there is—as I suppose the Government to believe possible—a potential terrorist threat to oil platforms in the North Sea oilfields, may I at least ask the noble Viscount to assure us that there are good and sufficient contingency plans of a national kind to meet that threat?
Viscount LONGYes, my Lords, that is true. I can assure the noble Lord that there are contingency plans to meet that threat; and I apologise for not answering that before.
§ Lord PEARTMy Lords, may I welcome the intervention of the noble Lord. I support strongly what has been said. I have myself had the responsibility for security of the oil rigs, and, without revealing anything that ought not to be said, I believe that we have a good system.