Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the 1998 Reservation on Protocol 1 (1977) to the Geneva Conventions on the Government's policy that Trident is compliant with International and Humanitarian Law; and if he will make a statement.

The position of the United Kingdom remains that the rules introduced by the Protocol apply exclusively to conventional weapons without prejudice to any other rules of international law applicable to other types of weapons. In particular, the rules so introduced do not have any effect on and do not regulate or prohibit the use of nuclear weapons.