Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (Hansard, 23 October 2003)

§ Mr. Menzies Campbell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made by the United Kingdom in relation to the implementation of the disarmament objectives set out at the end of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2000; and if he will make a statement. [133027]

§ Mr. Straw
[holding answer 22 October 2003]: The United Kingdom remains fully committed to all aspects of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), including global and verifiable nuclear disarmament. We have an excellent record in fulfilling our NPT obligations on nuclear disarmament. Consistent with the policy set out in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the UK has gone further than other Nuclear Weapon States in implementing the measures agreed in the Final Document of the 2000 NPT Review Conference.
More specifically, the UK has: withdrawn and dismantled the RAF's freefall nuclear bomb so that Trident is now our only nuclear weapons system; reduced our operationally available stockpile to fewer than 200 warheads, which is a reduction of more than 70 per cent. in the potential explosive power of our nuclear forces since the end of the Cold War; dismantled the UK's last Chevaline warhead last year; reduced the readiness of our nuclear forces: only a single Trident submarine is now on deterrent patrol, carrying 48 warheads. The submarine on patrol is normally on several days 'notice to fire' and its missiles are de-targeted; 719W placed fissile material no longet required for defence purposes under international safeguards. All enrichment and reprocessing facilities in the UK are now liable to international inspection; and been more transparent about our nuclear and fissile material stockpiles and begun a national historical accounting study for fissile material produced.
The UK continues to play a full part in the NPT Review process, including most recently in the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), which was held in Geneva in April and May this year. The UK issued a working paper at the PrepCom on its research into verification of nuclear disarmament and presented the conclusions of this interim study at a seminar during the PrepCom. We anticipate publishing a further paper for the 2004 session of the PrepCom and a consolidated paper at the Review Conference in 2005.

§ Mr. Menzies Campbell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the states in the Middle East that have(a) signed and (b) ratified the (i) Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, (ii) Chemical Weapons Convention and (iii) Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. [133028]

§ Mr. Straw
[holding answer 22 October 2003]: States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) include: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
States parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) include: Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen. Israel has signed but not ratified the CWC.
States parties to the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BWC) include: Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen. Egypt. United Arab Emirates and Syria have signed but not ratified the BWC.
The United Kingdom regularly calls on all states of the region to accede to these regimes whenever the opportunity arises. We have also made clear our support for a Middle East zone free from weapons of mass destruction.