§ Mrs. Ann CryerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will make a statement about progress made on the Government's commitment to nuclear disarmament, as agreed in the Non-Proliferation Treaty final document; [144103]
(2) what progress his Department has made on the reduction of non-strategic weapons, as agreed in the Non-Proliferation Treaty final document; [144102]
(3) what progress has been made on honouring the commitment made under the Non-Proliferation Treaty for all the nuclear weapon states to engage in the process of disarmament as soon as appropriate; [144105]
(4) what steps he has taken towards honouring the commitment to a diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies, as agreed in the Non-Proliferation Treaty final document. [144104]
§ Mr. VazThe Government have made their commitment to all aspects of the Final Document agreed at the 2000 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. We believe the United Kingdom is already some way ahead of most other states in fulfilling the undertakings it sets out.
We have reduced our own nuclear forces to the minimum necessary to provide for our security for the foreseeable future. These reductions have included the withdrawal from service of the last of our free-fall nuclear bombs, leaving Trident as our sole nuclear weapons system.
We have made clear, both nationally and in NATO, that our reliance on nuclear weapons in our security policies has been radically reduced since the end of the Cold War. We have pledged to include British nuclear weapons in multilateral negotiations when satisfied with progress towards the global elimination of nuclear weapons. And we have made clear our willingness to see a body established in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament to deal with nuclear disarmament.