§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards a cut-off convention for fissile materials available for nuclear warhead manufacture.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggWe supported the United Nations General Assembly resolution last year which called for the negotiation of a convention prohibiting the production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Although we shall wish to consider very carefully the implications of such a convention for our nuclear deterrent, we recognise the potentially valuable contribution which a multilateral16W convention could make to non-proliferation. On 1 February, the conference on disarmament appointed a special co-ordinator to seek the views of its member states on the most appropriate arrangements for a cut-off convention.