§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans the United Kingdom has to decommission nuclear warheads prior to the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in April. [115356]
§ Mr. HoonI have been asked to reply.
The Government are committed to the goal of global nuclear disarmament and take their responsibilities as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty very seriously. We have already given up our maritime tactical and air-launched nuclear capability and all these weapons have been dismantled. The Chevaline warheads from our previous strategic nuclear deterrent force, Polaris, are currently being dismantled. Trident is now our only nuclear system. We announced in the Strategic Defence Review that we will maintain fewer than 200 operationally available warheads for Trident. We now have significantly fewer nuclear weapons than any other Nuclear Weapon State. We have no plans to make any further reductions to our nuclear deterrent prior to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.