HL Deb 16 March 1982 vol 428 c638WA
Lord Brockway

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will urge acceptance by the USA at the Geneva talks of the proposal by President Brezhnev, voiced during his visit to Bonn in November, that all nuclear weapons be removed from Europe, both in the East and in the West.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Lord Carrington)

No. We believe that the first priority for the Geneva negotiations should be to reach agreement on a zero level in the land-based intermediate range nuclear missiles of most concern to each side, wherever they are deployed. The removal of nuclear weapons from Europe alone would not improve our security.