It falls to my lot to congratulate the hon. and gallant Member for Norwood (Brigadier Smyth) who has just made his maiden speech. He happens to share with me the privilege of representing part of the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth. I know that in saying what I am going to say I shall carry the whole House with me. He has made a most useful contribution to our discussion and I know that hon. Members in all quarters will look forward to hearing further from him, at any rate during the lifetime of this Parliament.

The point I wish to raise is one which I do not think has been mentioned so far in the Debate. It arises from the important place that is occupied in the white paper on Defence by the North Atlantic Pact and the Brussels Treaty. We know that the negotiations that have had to go on, the discussions which are still taking place, have been by no means easy. Those hon. Members who have had some experience of working some scheme of inter-allied co-operation during the war will know that it was not an easy task. They will appreciate how difficult it must have been during the last year or two to get some kind of understanding between various countries on the very important problems with which all those countries, including our own, were faced.

There is a suggestion I would like to make to the Minister of Defence which, I think, should be put forward in any discussions which may still have to take place regarding the respective contributions of the different countries involved in the Brussels Treaty and the North Atlantic Pact. I know that it may sound a little unfashionable at this time of day to keep on talking about fair shares, but in this respect we are entitled to ask that all the countries who are taking part in the Brussels Treaty, in Western Union and in the North Atlantic Pact should bear a fair share of the burden which will undoubtedly fall on each and all of us.

The only way in which the burden can be measured is by relating defence costs to the national income. When one examines the contributions from that point of view, it will be found that we in this country are contributing about 7 per cent. of our national income towards the cost of defence, whereas in the United States of America, for example, the contribution represents only 4 per cent., in Canada less than 2 per cent. and in France and Belgium also only 2 per cent. If these arrangements are to be acceptable to the people of this country, I maintain that the contribution should be on the basis of each country contributing an equal share of its national income towards the cost. If that principle is established and agreed upon by all these countries it may well lead to a lessening of the contribution which the people of this country will have to pay towards the cost of these organisations.