§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Defence if it is North Atlantic Treaty Organisation policy to achieve equality in nuclear weapons with those of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
141W
§ Mr. StanleyIn the previous negotiations on strategic and intermediate range nuclear weapons, the United States sought to reach balanced, equitable and verifiable agreement with the Soviet Union on the basis of equal limits of nuclear weapons in the same categories.
As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made clear in Washington on 22 December the purpose of the resumed US-Soviet negotiations on arms control is to achieve security with reduced levels of offensive systems on both sides. The US and Western aim is not to achieve superiority, but to maintain balance, taking account of Soviet developments.