HL Deb 19 May 1980 vol 409 cc548-50

2.53 p.m.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Disarmament Committee at Geneva has reached a decision on the prohibition of radiological weapons.

Lord TREFGARNE

My Lords, the Committee on Disarmament has established a working group to agree a convention prohibiting radiological weapons. The group has before it the elements of such a convention, presented jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union. We hope that agreement can be reached by the end of the committee's summer session.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, while I welcome the joint action by the United States and Soviet Union and their initiative in this matter, may I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware that some of us are rather puzzled by the distinction between this convention and the convention adopted in 1975, endorsed by 87 nations and ratified by 30, which prohibited the development and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons? Will something be done to co-ordinate these two conventions?

Lord TREFGARNE

My Lords, these two conventions deal with quite different classes of weapon. The radiological weapon, which is the subject of this Question, is a weapon which relies for its effect on the deliberate, widespread and indiscriminate dispersal of highly radioactive materials stored in the weapon. No nuclear explosion or any other explosion is involved, and this is therefore quite different from the kinds of weapon considered in the convention to which the noble Lord refers. We think it is right that a separate convention should apply to these weapons, and that is why we are proceeding as I described.

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that what he has said is encouraging from quite another point of view?— namely, that, since the reorganisation of the Disarmament Committee, as it is now called, on a more representative basis, and the taking away of the giant monopoly of the chairmanship from the two super powers, we have all been expecting progress in the Disarmament Committee on specific issues. Radiological weaponry is one. The chemical warfare agreement which this country really produced is another. May I give the noble Lord notice that I shall put down a Starred Question which in due course I hope either he or the Foreign Secretary will answer as to the progress of the specific agreements under the new structural organisation of the Disarmament Committee in Geneva?

Lord TREFGARNE

I am indeed glad to receive that notice, my Lords. As for chemical weapons, about which the noble Lord has asked me several times, on the last occasion when the noble Lord asked about them I undertook to write to him on the matter in more detail. I agreed the draft of that letter this morning, so he should receive it very shortly.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, while thanking the Minister for his explanation— and quiet honestly I wanted the information— may I ask him whether the 1975 convention did not deal with biological weapons, and are they not complementary to the radiological weapons which come under this convention?

Lord TREFGARNE

I do not think they are, my Lords. I think they are really a quite separate class of weapon, and that is why we are proceeding as I described.