‘Security environment is increasingly uncertain' - Government responds to Lords Committee's nuclear risk report
The House of Lords International Relations Committee has today published the Government's response to its report Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was published in April.
The Committee called on the Government to:
- Encourage greater dialogue between all nuclear possessor states about nuclear risk, to reduce global tensions.
- Seek to reduce tensions between Nuclear and Non-Nuclear Weapon States in advance of the 2020 NPT Review Conference, including by adopting a less aggressive tone towards the Ban Treaty and its supporters.
- Continue efforts to defend and uphold the Iran nuclear deal.
- Use ongoing discussions in NATO to promote either a revival of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or, at least, to avoid the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe.
- Use the UK's upcoming chairmanship of the P5 group as an opportunity to discuss risk reduction and transparency between the Nuclear Weapon States, and to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty regime, including encouraging the Nuclear Weapon States to show a demonstrable commitment to disarmament.
Read the Government's response here (pdf 488KB).
