§ Lord ORR-EWINGasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the total defence cuts and projected cuts at 1977 Survey prices between the financial years 1975–76 and 1983–84 compared with the total of £8,402 million at 1976 prices given in the House of Commons Hansard (cols. 361 and 362), for 15th November 1976 and subsequently.
§ Lord WINTERBOTTOMI would refer to the Answer given to the noble Lord, Lord Lyell, on 15th December 1977 (Vol. 387, cols. 2260–2262) which indicated total savings of £9,918 million over the years 1975–76 to 1983–84 between the defence budgets projected before the Government's Defence Review and those then envisaged or which had actually occurred. Since then the Government have announced in Cmnd. 7049 that the defence budget will be increased year-on-year by 3 per cent. in real terms in 1979–80, and again by 3 per cent. in real terms in 1980–81 subject to review in the light of our economic circumstances. This has the effect of reducing the cuts to 1980–81 by £70 million.