THE EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE
Question proposed that the Amendment be made:-
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
An Amendment made.
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Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
A paragraph brought up and read as follows:---
"We seriously question the wisdom of the involvement of British Forces in the civil war in Oman, since this commits highly trained manpower which should be more properly be used within NATO for the defence of the United Kingdom. Even if the financial commitment is negligible it is in our view undesirable that British Forces should be deployed on one side or another in a foreign civil war. The only justifiable role for British Forces in the Middle East is as a component of international Peacekeeping Forces under the authority of the United Nations ".—(Mr. Hooley.)
Motion made and Question, That the paragraph be read a second time, put and negatived.
Paragraph 14 read and agreed to.
Paragraph 15 read as follows:-
"Some extra costs will be incurred in connection with additional use of Diego Garcia following the proposed withdrawals from Gan and Mauritius, although the Ministry stated that these extra costs would be minimal compared with the savings from the withdrawals.1 Both the Maldive Islands and Mauritius have received British aid, and their economies benefit con- siderably from the military presence. We trust that if, in the event of with- drawal, additional aid is granted, the cost of such additional aid together with the extra cost at Diego Garcia will not exceed the costs of main- taining forces at Gan and Mauritius, and that this aspect of the arrangements will be fully explored by the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Com- monwealth Office and the Ministry of Overseas Development.'
Amendment proposed, in line 1, to leave out from beginning to "Diego Garcia" in line 2 and insert "We question the policy of incurring extra costs on bases at ".-(Mr. Hooley.)
Question, That the Amendment be made, put and negatived.
Paragraph agreed to.
Paragraphs 16 to 43 read and agreed to.
Resolved, That the Report, as amended, be the Second Report of the Committee to the House.
Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That the provisions of Standing Order No. 85 (Select Committees (Reports)) be applied to the Report.
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