§ Mr. Lawlerasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many nuclear warheads are currently deployed in Europe by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; and what has been the trend in numbers deployed since 1945.
§ Mr. StanleyIn 1979, NATO Defence Ministers agreed to reduce by 1,000 the number of NATO nuclear warheads stockpiled in Europe and, additionally, to withdraw one warhead for every cruise and Pershing II warhead introduced into Europe as a result of their decision to modernise NATO's long range intermediate nuclear forces (LRINF). In 1983, at their meeting in Montebello, the Ministers decided to reduce the stockpile by a further 1,400 warheads. These two actions together, when fully implemented, will bring the NATO nuclear stockpile in Europe to its lowest level for over 20 years. The number of NATO nuclear warheads deployed in Europe is classified, but the number of NATO LRINF and SRI N F systems with nuclear or nuclear capable variants is set out in figures 14 and 15 of annex A to Volume 1 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates 1986" (Cmnd. 9763–1).