Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the costs to the public purse of (a) establishing and (b) operating the proposed British military base in Bahrain; and what contribution to those costs will be made by the government of Bahrain.

The costs of naval and logistics facilities in Bahrain to support operations in the Gulf region will depend on the outcome of continuing negotiations with the government of Bahrain over how best to enhance and improve the existing facilities, and on the extent of the operations we undertake. The running costs are likely to be comparable to current expenditure, although in any event we expect the enhanced facilities to provide a more cost-effective use of Defence resources. Costs funded from the Defence budget will be borne by the appropriate Top Level Budgets.