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Disarmament
The Government is committed to the long term goal of a world without nuclear weapons and will press for continued progress on multilateral disarmament. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the cornerstone of international security, and is one of the key mechanisms for achieving progress towards this.
The success of the 2010 NPT Review Conference gives us a real opportunity to re-energise the international disarmament agenda and galvanise international efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The forward leaning action plan across all three of the NPT pillars (non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful use of technology) agreed at the Conference demonstrates to the international community that the five Nuclear Weapon States are taking their disarmament obligations seriously. It sets out measures that will help us all – Nuclear and Non-Nuclear Weapon States alike – to make real progress in the coming years.
The P5 Conference in Paris from 30 June – 1 July 2011 was a vital opportunity for the five nuclear weapon states to meet a year after the Review Conference and focus on concrete progress towards fulfilling our disarmament obligations. The public statement released after the Conference reaffirms P5 willingness to work together to build mutual trust and confidence on nuclear issues, and to implement the commitments that we undertook at the 2010 Review Conference.
UK Disarmament Achievements
We have taken a number of significant disarmament measures over the last year, announcing in the Strategic Defence and Security Review in October 2010 that we would:
- reduce the number of warheads on board each submarine from a maximum of 48 to a maximum of 40
- reduce our requirement for operationally available warheads from fewer than 160 to no more than 120
- reduce our overall nuclear weapon stockpile to no more than 180 by the mid-2020s
The Defence Secretary announced on 29 June 2011 that this process is now underway, and that one of our submarines now carries no more than 40 warheads.
As well as reducing the size and scale of our nuclear deterrent, the SDSR set out a stronger UK assurance to non-nuclear weapons states that we would not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against states party to the NPT in compliance with their non-proliferation obligations.
At the NPT Review conference, we circulated papers setting out the UK’s disarmament record and details of our joint research with Norway into the complex science of verifying warhead dismantlement.
The UK’s nuclear deterrent
As long as large arsenals of nuclear weapons remain and the risk of nuclear proliferation continues, our judgement is that only a credible nuclear capability can provide the necessary ultimate guarantee to our national security. We are therefore committed to maintaining a minimum national nuclear deterrent, while pursuing progress on multilateral disarmament and taking tangible steps towards a safer and more stable world where the UK and others are able to relinquish their nuclear weapons.
An international legal framework that puts tighter, verified constraints on nuclear weapons is an essential basis for progress towards a world without nuclear weapons.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
The CTBT bans nuclear weapon test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for military or civil purposes, and establishes a complex verification system to monitor compliance. Ending nuclear test explosions would constrain the development of new types of nuclear weapons and would therefore represent an important step towards global disarmament, as well as contributing significantly to nuclear non-proliferation.
The NPT Review Conference final document reaffirmed the vital importance of the CTBT and its early entry into force. Promoting entry into force of the CTBT is one of the UK’s key disarmament priorities, and we will continue to work for the immediate ratification by the eight remaining required States (China, US, Iran, Israel, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Egypt), who’s ratification is required for entry into force.
Pending the entry into force of the CTBT, the UK reaffirms its voluntary moratorium and calls on all states to uphold the moratorium on nuclear weapon test explosions and any other nuclear explosion.
A Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) 
A global ban on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices is vital to international non-proliferation and disarmament efforts. We continue to work for the immediate start of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Pending the successful negotiation and entry into force of an FMCT, the UK reaffirms its voluntary moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and calls on others that have yet to do so to join us.
Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
The UK supports the creation of Nuclear Weapon Free Zones, which we have signed and ratified for Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific and Africa, giving treaty-based negative security assurances to almost 100 countries. We have agreed to a Programme of Work at the Conference on Disarmament which includes a mandate to discuss Negative Security Assurances.UK Norway workshop
The UK Norway Initiative Workshop on Nuclear Disarmament Verification was held on 7-9 December 2011 in London
