§ Mr. Fisherasked the Secretary of State for Defence if Her Majesty's Government will propose to the North Atlantic Council the renunciation by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation of the strategy of decapitation strikes.
§ Mr. StanleyIt has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on targeting plans for nuclear weapons. We have, however, made it clear, notably in the statement on the Defence Estimates 1983, that NATO strategy does not encompass any concept of a pre-emptive "first strike".