Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the governments of Russia and the United States about extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which is due to expire in February 2021.

We recognise the contribution the New START Treaty has made to international security by increasing transparency and mutual confidence amongst the two largest Nuclear Weapons States. The Treaty has delivered a reduction of strategic nuclear arsenals, enhanced notably by its robust verification mechanism. We support its continued implementation and have encouraged the US to extend New START while negotiating any successor agreement.

However, we are also clear that New START has limitations. It does not include new Russian systems. Nor does it place any limits on China's growing nuclear arsenal. We therefore see real advantage in President Trump's call for a new strategic arms control agreement including China. We urge both Russia and China to engage seriously with the US on this initiative.

The UK regularly discusses these issues with the US and Russia. We recently had discussions on strategic arms control at a meeting of the five Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nuclear weapon states, or "P5", which took place in London on 12-13 February. At that meeting, all five states, including the US and Russia, underlined the importance of reducing nuclear risk and promoting stability, and agreed that dialogue on strategic risk reduction should continue.