§ 104. Sir T. Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the 109W estimated cost of defence as a percentage of the gross national product annually from 1967 to 1976 assuming defence expenditure as proposed in Command Paper No. 3357 and annual increases of the gross national product of 3 per cent., 4 per cent., and 5 per cent.
§ Mr. HealeyI am not prepared to give any more detailed defence expenditure forecasts than those contained in Chapter V of the Supplementary Statement on Defence Policy. These forecasts would entail allotting the following percentages of the Gross National Product to defence:
At 3 per cent. Growth rate At 4 per cent. Growth rate At 5 per cent. Growth rate 1970–71 … 5.9 5.7 5.5 1975–76 … 4.8 4.5 4.2