Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the basis of the information for the statement on page 69 of volume 1 of the Statement on the Defence Estimates, 1988, Cm. 344–1, that the Soviet Union commands the world's largest, most comprehensive and advanced capability for chemical and toxic agent warfare;
(2) if he will set out the basis on which Her Majesty's Government have judged the Soviet Union to have a substantial chemical weapons advance over the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThere are no chemical weapons declared to NATO although the United States has a limited national retaliatory capability. By contrast, we assess that the Soviet Union has a massive offensive CW capability. It is not the policy of Her Majesty's Government to give details of such information.