§ Mr. David Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list in percentage terms the real increase in defence spending for 1979, 1980 and 1981 and for the period 1978 to 1981 for Belgium, Canada, Denmark, 280W France, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and West Germany.
§ Mr. BlakerNATO does not publish information in the form requested. For the United Kingdom the information, by the nearest financial year, is as follows:
Real increase in defence spending per cent. 1979–80 3 1980–81 2.8 1981–82 1.5 1978–79 to 1981–82 7.5 The precise level of real growth achieved in 1981–82 will depend on the final outturn. The figures quoted are based on the forecast of outturn published in Cmnd. 8494.