§ Mr. Alexander W. Lyonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about improvements in the United Kingdom contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, in the light of events in Czechoslovakia.
147W
§ Mr. Reynolds:As part of a collective effort to strengthen the defensive forces of the Alliance, we have decided to make a number of further improvements in the United Kingdom contribution to N.A.T.O. in addition to those announced in May and July this year.
2. We are re-arranging the planned naval deployment programme so that our maritime presence in the Mediterranean will include an aircraft carrier or commando ship or assault ship, almost continuously from January, 1969.
3. We also propose to allocate to the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force a small number of personnel to meet a longstanding requirement for satisfactory voice communication facilities, and we have indicated our willingness to make available to N.A.T.O., at least for the next two years or so, a further infantry battalion subject to the negotiation of a suitable role.
4. We are also planning to arrange for early next year an exercise on the northern flank by part of 3 Division and aircraft of No. 38 Group, the formations which we committed to N.A.T.O. earlier this year.
5. Finally, we have decided to order a small additional number of Harrier aircraft so that we can assign to N.A.T.O. a further squadron which will be based in Germany.
6. No increase in the planned Defence Budget will arise from these proposals but the change in naval deployments will involve increased foreign exchange expenditure of £½ million in 1969 and £⅓ million in 1970.