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

I despair of the hon. Gentleman's ability to follow even the simplest argument. I was speaking about the effect of station closures upon employment.

While no representations have yet been made, we still hope that some of the stations will have an alternative defence use. In the meantime, we are continuing our discussions with the trade unions and staff sides. But the deadline for formal representations from hon. Members has now passed, and although I am still prepared to hear any objections, I shall shortly be finalising the RAF's deployment proposals.

I should like to take the opportunity to announce, as a further example of the Government's efforts to minimise the loss of jobs in areas of high unemployment, that we have found an alternative use for the vacant RAF station at Ouston, Northumberland, which is in a special development area. Provided the necessary planning permission can be obtained to build about 200 married quarters there, the intention is to make it the location of an infantry battalion by mid-1978. This will create directly up to 50 civilian jobs, and I believe that the presence of 600 to 700 Service men will provide a useful stimulus to the local economy.

The hon. Member for Ayr asked yesterday, and the right hon. Gentleman asked this afternoon where the priorities lay. There is no doubt that the central area of Europe, the United Kingdom itself, the Channel and the Eastern Atlantic are the areas which are vital to our defence—of much greater importance to us than any others. There are arguments about the threats to the flanks of NATO, but it should never be forgotten that we were the only European NATO Power which performed a significant rôle in all areas of interest to our allies. I remind the hon. Member for Ayr that, whatever his opinion may be about the threats in the various areas, there can be no doubt that, as a glance at the disposition of Warsaw Pact forces would show him, the central region is the most vital land area for NATO.

Let us consider what is happening in other areas. Forces are being run down somewhat in Cyprus. I hope that that will contribute to a substantial reduction in the proportion of married Servicemen who are out there on nine-month unaccompanied tours, with all that that means in terms of turbulence and family upheaval.

I join the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border in paying tribute to the security forces in Northern Ireland. Their campaign against terrorism in the last year met with considerable success. I believe that it greatly undermined the strength of the terrorist organisations, in parallel with the Government's political initiatives in that area. I believe that it led to a situation in the Province which allowed the withdrawal of three major units. I should also add a tribute to the extremely valuable contribution which the Ulster Defence Regiment played in that campaign.

The rôle which the forces are fulfilling in Northern Ireland is sadly by now all too familiar, but there are two further areas where their presence is somewhat of a new concept. The first is in the surveillance and protection of North Sea oil rigs, a point with which my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Navy dealt in his winding-up speech last night. The second is the anti-terrorist measures that need to be practised from time to time at such particularly vulnerable targets as Heathrow Airport.

In the past, the operations at Heathrow have for the most part involved armed soldiers and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles, although on one occasion it was necessary to deploy a new tracked vehicle for these duties. This new tracked vehicle, known as Scorpion, forms part of the Army's re-equipment programme, which is aimed at developing a new generation of tracked armoured reconnaissance vehicles. The Scorpion is the first of these and has already replaced the old wheeled armoured cars in the Army's armoured reconnaissance regiments.

However, hon. Members may be interested to know that one of the consequences of the limited number of wheeled armoured vehicles now stationed in Britain is that it may at times be necessary to use the tracked Scorpion vehicle at Heathrow in the event of further police requests for Army assistance to counter terrorist threats. The introduction of tracked vehicles marks no escalation in the campaign against terrorism but is merely the result of one of the Army's re-equipment measures.

A further area where the activities of the forces impinges upon the general public is, of course, low flying. This matter was mentioned by the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Kershaw) yesterday. I have already mentioned it in connection with the MRCA, but it is not a new problem. I think that the general philosophy of low flying is by now generally understood and agreed in this House. Whilst the general philosophy is known, the exact geography of low flying areas and the routes linking them has not been published.

In keeping with our general wish in defence matters to make available the maximum information compatible with national security, we have been reviewing this decision afresh. Our studies are not yet complete, but they have paid particular attention to aircraft safety.

I know very well the concern that is felt over the collision at Downham Market between a Phanton and a Piper Pawnee crop spraying aircraft. I can make no comment on this accident at this time because we still await the report of the Chief Inspector of Accidents. However, it is fair to point out that in the last 15 years there have been only five collisions betwen civil and military aircraft, and, of those, only the accident at Downham Market occurred in the United Kingdom military low flying system.

Both my colleagues and I, as well as the Services themselves, regard the problem of flying accidents as of the highest concern. I think we can say that one accident is one too many. At the same time, we must recognise that if pilots are to be properly trained to make effective use of sophisticated aircraft, there must necessarily be some risk of accidents. We have to strive for a proper balance between adequate training and safety.

As part of the process, I have been considering with my colleagues the desirability of publishing, on a regular basis, flying accident statistics for the Services. This would be in line with the Government's general policy of releasing more information to Parliament and to the general public. We have therefore decided to publish annually the accident rates for the three Services, together with accident costs. The figures for 1974 are being made available in a Written Answer this afternoon.