§ Lord Brockwayasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will confirm that reports on atomic and biological weapons considered by the chiefs of staffs joint technical warfare committee in 1946 inferred "that the most profitable objects of attack by the new weapons will normally be concentrations of population" and that 58 Russian cities, representing 77.5 per cent. of the urban population, were listed, together with comparable cities in the United Kingdom and the USA; whether it was assumed that no effective method would be found by the United Nations to eliminate these weapons; and what was the response of the Ministry of Defence to these views.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Viscount Trenchard)It would not be possible, without disproportionate effort, to conduct the examination necessary in order to verify individual references in the Public Records Office to which a recent newspaper article referred in the terms quoted in the question.
House adjourned at two minutes before ten o'clock.