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We hope that these consultations with our NATO allies
will do more than determine the final shape of the necessary
changes in the British contribution to NATO. We shall wish
to raise with our allies questions about what they can do as
well as what we can do. Our aim will be to ensure the most
effective use of the limited resources we can all make available
for defence.
We shall at the same time have to consult other
Governments in respect of changes in our commitments outside
NATO. We have examined these commitments case by case and
we have concluded that substantial reductions in our forces
and defence facilities overseas can be made without abandoning
our obligations towards countries which rely on us. In
obligation to defend particular, we shall maintain our defence obligations with
regard to our remaining dependent territories.
Once all these necessary consultations, both inside
and outside NATO, have been completed we shall submit to
Parliament a White Paper describing our decisions and how
they' are to be put into effect.
published in February next year.
The White Paper will be
It will make it clear,
not least to those in the armed forces and to others whose
employment depends on our defence effort, where the cuts
will fall and what provision we intend to make for those
There will inevitably be some reduction in
affected.
defence establishments at home as well as abroad but we
shall take all possible steps to provide alternative sources
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