APPENDIX 45
Memorandum submitted by Nigel Barnacle
I wish to submit the following comments:
(a) The Labour Government has often claimed
its commitment to world-wide nuclear disarmament. Britain could
and should take a lead in this.
(b) Nuclear disarmament is too important
to be taken lightly or be neglected. Since the 1995 NPT Review
Conference, India and Pakistan have tested nuclear devices, Iraq,
Iran and North Korea are thought to be close to nuclear capability.
Russia has tested new TOPOL missiles, China, is modernising her
nuclear capacity and the USA is weakening its commitment to nuclear
disarmament.
(c) The new acting Russian President has
declared a new national security strategy which may prove more
confrontational to the West.
(d) India and Pakistan seem reluctant to
sign the NPT. Unless nuclear states who are signed up to the NPT
honour their agreements and take a lead in disarmament, then non-NPT
signatories are not likely to sign up.
(e) It is vital that the UK pressures the
USA to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and that the UK
does not allow the US to expand its base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire.
(f) The UK could unblock progress towards
a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty by agreeing to allow current
stocks of plutonium to be covered by the Treaty. To not do this
would call into question the seriousness of a desire for nuclear
disarmament. The Labour Party's decision in the 1997 Strategic
Defence Review to allow Aldermaston expertise to be used to develop
effective verification and monitoring regimes for treaties is
welcomed and encouraging.
The best way to persuade non-signatory states
is by complying with both the spirit and the letter of treaties
to which the UK is a signatory. The choice is not between proliferation
and non-proliferation but between proliferation and disarmament.
I would like my comments to be taken into account
by the Select Committee and the Government. I would also welcome
the Government's comments on all the above points and its intentions
to act upon all these issues.
31 January 2000
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