Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking ahead of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1) to clarify their nuclear defence posture, and (2) to offer unconditional assurances to states without nuclear weapons that there are no circumstances under which they would be subject to a threat of nuclear attack by the UK.

The UK remains strongly committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and will work towards the Tenth Review Conference contributing to the implementation of the Treaty in all its aspects. The UK's nuclear posture and Negative Security Assurances were outlined in the UK's Integrated Review, published in March 2021, and the UK's National Report on the UK's progress on the three pillars of the NPT, published on 1 November. The UK considers that we can best protect ourselves and our Allies by the continued operation of a minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent based on a continuous at sea deterrence posture. The UK's Negative Security Assurances remain unchanged. The UK will not use, or threaten to use, nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapons states party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. This assurance does not apply to any state in material breach of those non-proliferation obligations. We will continue to keep our nuclear posture and policy under constant review in light of the international security environment and the actions of potential adversaries.