HL Deb 27 July 1988 vol 500 c367WA
Lord Jenkins of Putney

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the defence expenditure of the USA compared with that of the USSR, and what is the total defence expenditure of NATO compared with that of the Warsaw Pact.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Glenarthur)

Members of the Western Alliance make freely available the details of their defence budgets. They are published for instance in the Ministry of Defence's annual statement on the defence estimates. It will not be possible to make the comparisons requested by the noble Lord as long as the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact refuse to produce reliable figures to match.