§ Dame Joan Vickersasked the Secretary of State for Defence in view of the policy laid down in the White Paper 1969 that Great Britain's presence in the Mediterranean will include an aircraft carrier or commando or assault ship continuously from January, 1969, to what extent this will be carried out in 1970, 1971 and 1972.
§ Mr. HealeyThe 1969 Defence White Paper said that we would maintain an aircraft carrier or commando or assault ship almost continuously in the Mediterranean. We did so in 1969 and we aim to achieve this in 1970. Thereafter we shall certainly be deploying major fleet units to the Mediterranean, but our plans are not yet final.