HC Deb 04 May 1955 vol 540 cc131-2W
68. Mr. Hector Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will specify the international provisions which now entitle the British Government to notice of the intention of any foreign Power to make an experimental explosion of an atomic, hydrogen or thermo-nuclear bomb.

Lord John Hope

There is no international agreement on this point. The only two Powers besides ourselves who have tested such weapons are the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The United States Government make it a frequent practice to give advance public notice of their test programmes, but the Soviet Government have not done so up till now.