46 and 47. Mr. Ziliiacusasked the Prime Minister (1) whether, in order to break the deadlock on disarmament, he will propose at the Summit Conference that there should be a 10 per cent. cut in the existing levels of armed forces in the first stage of disarmament, with the measures of control appropriate to the carrying out of this cut;
(2) whether he will submit at the Summit Conference the proposals for disarmament and control common to both the 1954 Anglo-French plan and the Soviet plan of 10th May, 1955. in order to provide an agreed basis for discussion on this subject.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerI have been asked to reply.
It would, I think, be undesirable to specify now what proposals my right hon. Friend may make.
The hon. Gentleman is right to emphasise the need for measures of control. Under the Western plan those will be instituted during the second stage and under that plan during that stage we have proposed reductions in conventional forces greater than 10 per cent.
So far as the hon. Gentleman's other Question is concerned, features from both the 1954 Anglo-French plan and the Soviet plan of 1955 are incorporated in the latest Western proposals. In particular, the final objective in the Western plan is the same as that in the Anglo-French plan of 1954 and the Soviet plan of 1955.