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NATO consultations
4. The formal consultations procedure laid down in NATO on major
policy issues of this sort was meticulously followed. A full
presentation of our proposals was made to NATO at the time that
Parliament was informed of them, and ample time with an allowance
for the Christmas break was allowed for NATO to carry out the
necessary military assessments and the subsequent political
consideration of the Alliance's reaction to our proposals.
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5. The NATO Secretary General's formal letter to me summarising
this reaction is at Annex B. It expresses NATO's "sympathetic
understanding of the economic difficulties which the United Kingdom,
in common with other member countries, is now facing"; and pays
tribute to the important military contribution which Britain now
makes, and has traditionally made, to the Alliance. It welcomes
our assurance that the Alliance is regarded as the linch pin of
British Security, and that NATO commitments will remain the first
charge on our defence resources. It expresses satisfaction that
we propose to maintain the effectiveness of our present contribution
to the strategic nuclear deterrent and the present scale of our
tactical nuclear forces. But it expresses the "considerable disquiet
within the Alliance" at reductions which are "on a scale consider-
ably larger than that proposed by any other Ally in recent years". It endorses the views of the major NATO Commanders that our proposals, if implemented in full, and if not offset by compensating measures, "would represent a major reduction of NATO's defence capability in ACE and in the ACCHAN/ACLANT area, and would correspondingly weaken
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