§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what United Kingdom forces' cuts he proposes and over what time scale in the draft CFE agreement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe proposed CFE treaty provides, in general, for limits on the holdings of certain924W equipments by the two groups of states, rather than for specific national limits. The overall NATO totals permitted by the treaty will, therefore, have to be allocated to individual nations and, although work on this is well advanced, national ceilings have still to be decided finally. The precise reductions that the United Kingdom will have to make to comply with the treaty will also depend on continuing negotiations on definitions and counting rules. Implementation of reductions is envisaged over a three-year period.