Initially there was no question of retiring the type, or even a majority of affected aircraft. Repairs were actively taking place at Valiant bases such as Marham using working parties from Vickers plus RAF technicians from the base. In January 1965, the Wilson government with Denis Healey as Secretary of State for Defence decided that the expense of the repairs could not be justified, given the short operational life left to the Valiant, and the fleet was permanently grounded as of 26 January 1965. The QRA alert that had been in place for SACEUR was maintained until the final grounding. When asked to make a statement regarding the Valiant's scrapping in the House of Commons, Denis Healey stated that it "was not in any way connected with low-level flying" and that the "last Government took the decision to continue operating the Valiant force for another four years after its planned fatigue life was complete".