§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the percentage of gross national product spent on defence by the United Kingdom, France and Germany and the reduction in the current year's Defence Estimates if the United Kingdom percentage were to be reduced to the same as the average percentage for France and Germany.
§ Mr. William Rodgers1973 is the latest year for which figures for all three countries are available. On the NATO definition, defence expenditure as percentage of GNP was 6 per cent. for the United Kingdom, 4.2 per cent. for France and 3.9 per cent. for Germany. On this basis 557W a reduction of United Kingdom expenditure to the average percentage for France and Germany would have involved a cut of about one-third.