HC Deb 10 June 1985 vol 80 cc308-9W
Mr. D. E. Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in the Official Report a list of documents that have been prepared by his Department for the preparatory committee meetings of the non-proliferation treaty review conference.

Mr. Luce

The preparatory committee, which has now completed its work, was concerned chiefly with procedural matters. The committee did not request the states parties to prepare documents for its meetings, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office did not therefore prepare any.

Mr. D. E. Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what specific actions have been taken by Britain in pursuit of its multilateral obligations under article VI of the non-proliferation treaty.

Mr. Luce

We actively participate in all major multilateral disarmament fora, including the Geneva conference on disarmament, the Stockholm conference on disarmament in Europe, and the Vienna mutual and balanced force reductions talks. We also support the current arms control negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union whose objectives are wholly consistent with the obligations of article VI of the non-proliferation treaty, and have contributed fully to the NATO discussions which led to the withdrawal from Europe in 1980 of 1000 nuclear warheads and will result in the withdrawal of a further 1972 between 1983 and 1988.