Rhine Forces U.K. READY TO WITHDRAW ARMY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 17

Rhine Forces U.K. READY TO WITHDRA W ARMY

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, February 27. The British Government last night warned West Germany that unless the foreign exchange costs of the Rhine army are met, the troops will be brought home, the Associated Press reported.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr James Callaghan, said this to a political rally in Wales on the eve of a meeting with American and West German representatives on British and American troops in Germany.

There are 59,000 British troops in Germany.

Mr Callaghan said that he had already authorised the buying of homes and had set aside a considerable sum of money to open up barracks for the troops if they were brought home. “Let no-one here, at home and abroad, feel this is simply an idle piece of bluff, it is not,” he said. “Let me make it quite clear that we intend to reduce our forces in order that the foreign exchange costs are met. “We are not asking the Germans to meet the costs of the troops,” he said. Foreign Exchange

“What we are asking for is that the foreign exchange

costs should be met in Deutschmarks,” said Mr Callaghan. “They are not paying for our troops by doing that. “I will make an offer now,” he said. “If Mr Strauss, the West German Finance Minister, cares to pay for the foreign exchange of our troops by purchasing goods in Britain to send to India or any other under-developed part of

the world, I will accept the bargain." Tomorrow’s meeting between Britain, West Germany and the United States is the third such session, originally proposed by President Johnson, to survey the threat, nuclear and conventional, to the Western Alliance, the forces needed to meet it and the means of pay for their upkeep. As the talks open, the Commons starts debating a £2205 million defence bill. The Foreign Secretary, Mr George Brown, will cut short his Common Market talks in Holland to be present. Cut Demanded In the debate the Labour Government will be opposed by up to 40 of its own backbenchers demanding big reductions in defence spending. They have tabled an amendment to the Government’s proposals calling for the withdrawal of British forces from Singapore, Malaysia and the Persian Gulf by 1970 and a reduction of British forces in Germany.