Vote a. Number for Air Force Service

Part of Air Estimates, 1958–59 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 March 1958.

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Photo of Mr William Ross Mr William Ross , Kilmarnock 12:00, 10 March 1958

After this debate, I will gladly look back to find which Minister said it. I assure the hon. Gentleman that one of them did. In any case, whether he said it or not, is it not time that he was thinking about it?

The facts are obvious. Industry, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force are all competing for the same men. It is obvious that the Services, as a unit, should be attending to the possibilities of integration in relation to certain branches. The sooner it is done the better, because I doubt whether there will be enough to go round. Economy with and between the Services is certainly worth while.

I should like to say something of aircraft and stores, Vote 7, A, B and C. Here we have the financial evidence of the change from manned aircraft to guided missiles, both for defence and for attack. There is a 22 per cent. reduction for airframes and aero engines. This kind of thing must be worrying the industry considerably. Then, there is a 50 per cent. increase for armament, ammunition and explosives, due mainly to missiles and the like, which is worrying many people in the country.

This reduction for airframes and aero engines must relate to Fighter Command, because we have had the proclaimed expansion of Transport Command and there are also the deliveries of the V-bombers. These sums, however, can be no more than a guess of what a forecast is to be in the month of October. 'They are not really an Estimate at all. If these figures are correct, they point to an even speedier run-down of Fighter Command—I would say, with more speed than wisdom—and to the delayed re-equipment of the other commands.

The increase of 50 per cent. relates to rockets, bombs, guided missiles, ground defence weapons and all their gear. The Secretary of State today was not very reassuring about the gap, which must exist, in the defence of the country during the changeover or fitting in of the new pattern of missiles to the old pattern of manned aircraft defence. It may well be that we are running risks. It is not, perhaps, quite so serious at the present time, in a year of summit talks, but we should watch it carefully. The Memorandum is not very reassuring. In paragraphs 31, 32 and 33 it speaks about the new fighter, the P.1, and its associated air-to-air guided missiles. They are not being delivered; they are being developed. There is talk about firing trials of the Bloodhound, trials of a complete weapon system which are to start soon, and operational deployment after that. There are trials of the Thunderbird. It is all trial and development. There is a familiar ring about all this; it sounds like what we had in relation to planes. The country needs an assurance that we shall not muddle along through a waste of manifold projects, with very little of anything worthwhile and too much of the things which are ineffective.

As regards the deterrent, I do not really think that paragraph 30 fits in what has gone before in any sensible fashion at all. We are told in paragraph 27 that the continued effectiveness of the deterrent will be assured. That implies that the deterrent is already effective. Let us take that as right. If the deterrent is already effective, why run the political risks inherent in accepting this American ballistic missile? There are certain ques- tions which ought to be asked about this. Is it desirable? Politically, no. Is it necessary? According to paragraph 27, no. Is it effective? My hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr. de Freitas) was not the only one to throw doubt on that. Is it ours? The answer to that is only too obvious.

The hon. and gallant Member for Croydon, North-East (Vice-Admiral Hughes Hallett) spoke about the halting of H-bomb patrols and seemed to think that we and everyone in the country should know what the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister did not know—that is, about American practice, psychology and fears, fears caused through Pearl Harbour. They do not want to take risks. Might I say here that we in Britain do not want to take risks? Certainly, there is nothing in the international situation to justify exactly what they are doing at the present time. The hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for Croydon, North-East said that our argument about the stand-still of tests was only a political gesture. It is a much more risky political gesture to proceed with these unnecessary, unsatisfactory and unsafe missiles that we have accepted.

There is little wrong with the Service which good administration would not put right. Doubts are expressed about the policy of the Government in relation to the Royal Air Force itself and the effect that has upon its three-fold rôle. We have opposed the defence policy not only today but time and time again—I say this to my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley—because of the dangers inherent in our over-reliance on the deterrent as an instrument of national and international defence. We on this side are concerned that, in this stalemate of terror which the Government are prepared to contemplate for a generation, the next step should be the right one. That step should take us nearer a Summit Conference, with a chance of success, and not take us towards that state of defence bankruptcy where the choice is between H-bomb suicide and doing nothing at all.

For that reason, we oppose this over-reliance upon the deterrent. We urge suspension of tests, and we want the stopping of unnecessary patrolling over our skies of planes carrying the H bomb. This is why we ask the Government not to proceed with these unloved missile bases before a Summit Conference. We urge them to press on for summit talks. These Estimates, which trouble us, trouble all Governments. They mock the claims of modern civilisation. They are a measure of the failure of politicians, but they are a challenge to statesmen. Our motto should be, not "Reach for the skies" but "Reach for the summit".