§ 9. Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West)What assessment he has made of the potential threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons. [122647]
§ The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)We assess that there is no significant threat to the UK from nuclear weapons at present, but developments continue to be monitored closely. We remain committed 12 to limiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons through our international treaty obligations and national programmes.
§ Mr. SwayneDespite the Secretary of State's assessment of the threat, does he agree that our best deterrent against the aggressive use of nuclear weapons remains our nuclear capability? If so, how does that sit with the policy, to which the Foreign Office has signed up, of a nuclear-free world? Would the Foreign Office policy have delivered the successful conclusion of the cold war?
§ Mr. HoonI agree, perhaps surprisingly, with the hon. Gentleman's first proposition, but the non-proliferation treaty agreement—the process towards which we conducted negotiations on behalf of the entire Government and into which previous Governments, including the Government that he no doubt supported, entered—is an aspiration; it is not likely to produce results in the short term. Nevertheless, I hope that the entire House would welcome circumstances in which the world was rid of nuclear weapons.
§ Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley)How concerned is my right hon. Friend, therefore, by reports, chiefly from Richard Butler, the former head of UNSCOM in Iraq, that Saddam Hussein may be starting to rebuild his arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons?
§ Mr. HoonThe Government are concerned about that, which is why we, together with our allies, have spent so much time trying to achieve an international situation in which Iraq accepts the paramount importance of permitting the inspection of facilities inside Iraq as a means of restoring Iraq to the international community. We have made it clear that an effective inspection regime is a prerequisite of any such restoration.
§ Mr. Dafydd Wigley (Caernarfon)On what possible moral basis can we argue against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, when we insist on having them ourselves? If the Secretary of State believes in a nuclear-free world, should not the Government give a lead in that direction, as his own leader advocated in the 1980s, when the situation was much more dangerous?
§ Mr. HoonIn the strategic defence review, we carefully set out the importance of nuclear weapons to the United Kingdom, as long as other countries retain them. Nothing has changed in the interim, but in New York the Government, together with other Governments such as that of the United States, recognised that, as an aspiration in a civilised world, it would be sensible—if we could achieve it—to rid the entire world of nuclear weapons.