§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information his Department has received concerning the development of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since 1999; and if he will make a statement. [25681]
§ Mr. BradshawSince the withdrawal of United Nations weapons inspectors in December 1998 there have been no independent inspections of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programmes. While we cannot therefore make any categorical assessment of current Iraqi capabilities, we judge that since 1999 Iraq has pressed ahead with its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes.
We continue to urge Iraq to allow UN weapons inspectors into Iraq to disarm and monitor its ballistic missile and other weapons of mass destruction programmes as required under UN Security Council resolution 1284.