Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will propose at the next NATO Leaders Summit extending that alliance's support for the principles of weapons ban conventions, which are outlined in the Wales Declaration, to nuclear weapons.

As set out in its 2010 Strategic Concept, NATO is committed to the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons. However, for as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO has stated that it will remain a nuclear alliance.

The United Kingdom fully supports efforts to combat the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction through the universalisation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention. Furthermore, the UK will continue to work to make nuclear weapons less necessary, with the goal of making them unnecessary. We believe that the best way to achieve a world without nuclear weapons is through gradual disarmament negotiated step–by-step within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010, we consider that our nuclear deterrent is the ultimate means to deter the most extreme threats, and the United Kingdom will retain a credible, continuous and effective minimum nuclear deterrent for as long as the global security situation makes it necessary.