§ Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson) of 20 November 2001,Official Report, columns 185-86W, on nuclear weapons, if he will make it his policy to engage permanent members of the Security Council in negotiations on nuclear weapon reduction. [34755]
§ Mr. BradshawAll five nuclear weapons states are committed under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to the ultimate goal of nuclear disarmament, and have discussions on this and related issues in that context. The UK has made it clear that we will include our nuclear weapons in multilateral negotiations as soon as appropriate, but the circumstances do not yet exist to make starting such negotiations a practical proposition.