§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Since they believe that "it would not be in our interests to engage in structural naval arms control" with the Soviet Union because NATO's security depends more crucially on sea communications than Soviet security does, (HL Deb, 8th July 1991, col. WA 83), whether it follows that they believe that balanced disarmament is always to the disadvantage of the more vulnerable side.
§ Lord Cavendish of FurnessWe believe that a basic principle of arms control should be, as set out in the 1990 CFE Treaty, that the security interests of each participant are not affected adversely. Properly balanced arms control achieves this to the mutual benefit of the participants. But, for the reasons set out in the answer of 8th July, it would be difficult to maintain this principle in the naval sphere and we do not therefore see advantage for NATO in engaging in measures of structural maritime arms control.