§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, following the Written Answer to Lord Jenkins of Putney of 5th December (col. 1528) by Baroness Young, they will now comment on the Marplan Poll which indicated that 84 per cent., including a majority of supporters of the Government, believe that this country and the United States should follow the example of the Soviet Union and ban all further nuclear tests; and whether they are aware that there is little independent scientific support for the view that these tests are unverifiable.
§ Baroness YoungThe difficulty with interpreting results of polls of the type to which the noble Lord refers is that they pose an over-simplified question requesting only a yes or no answer. Questions of this type cannot take into account the full range of issues. Her Majesty's Government do not agree with the view that all verfication problems have now been resolved.