Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference 2015

Lord Wright of Richmond Excerpts

Thursday 26th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

My noble friend is quite right to be concerned at some of the trends. In answer to her question about what we can do, we are taking a whole range of steps and can do more. Of course, we led the way with the P5 conference process in Paris last year. We reduced the number of warheads on our submarines and reduced operationally available warheads and our nuclear stockpile. We carried forward the verification discussions with Norway and are progressing the nuclear-free zones for south-east Asia. We welcome the arrival of Mr Jaakko Laajava to drive forward the Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone. We have also encouraged the signing up of the additional powers for the IAEA. There is a lot that we can do individually, but best of all we can work with our NPT partners and others to make sure that the review process carries forward and the action plan of 2010 is given real beef and muscle.

[Lord Wright of Richmond]

Can the Minister confirm that the range of steps to which he referred includes trying to persuade Israel to sign the non-proliferation treaty?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Yes, it certainly does. As we move towards the next review conference, we would of course like to see clarified Israel’s position on nuclear, which is ambiguous, as the noble Lord knows, and for Israel to sign up to the NPT.