HL Deb 11 February 1988 vol 493 c396WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have specifically given their approval to the United States proposal for a defence and space treaty introduced in January at the Geneva negotiations, which envisages a Soviet-American -co-operative stable transition to a world where defences can provide protection against attack by ballistic (strategic nuclear) weapons", and if so what implications they consider the deployment of such defences would have for Britain's nuclear forces.

Lord Glenarthur

We have consistently supported the principle of an agreed period of non-withdrawal from the ABM Treaty which is the key element of the draft treaty. The effect on Britain's deterrent of deployed defences is hypothetical. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister and President Reagan have agreed that SDI-related deployment would have to be a matter of negotiation and that the aim of the SDI programme is to enhance, not undermine, deterrence.