Orders of the Day — Defence

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 May 1975.

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Photo of Mr Brynmor John Mr Brynmor John , Pontypridd 12:00, 7 May 1975

No. I will not give way now. I must develop this point.

The Chancellor has said, and I do not believe that the Opposition dissent, that we face a serious economic position. If the Opposition acknowledge this, they cannot possibly be allowed to get away with proposals for defence which, so far as I can understand them, are apparently framed with a total disregard for the present economic situation. Of course, they might argue, in the classic words of the man who was asked the way to Dublin, that they would not have started from here at all. But we are in this position. Some in the Conservative Party, although they are not the spokesmen of the party in the House at the moment, do recognise that there are constraints upon defence expenditure imposed by economic realities.