Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will place in the Library a copy of (a) the current text of the 1958 UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement and its annexes, as subsequently amended since the Agreement originally entered into force and (b) any amendments to the Agreement and its annexes that the Government proposes for when they are renewed.

The 2014 Amendment to the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defense Purposes 1958, otherwise known as the Amendment Agreement to the 1958 UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA), has been laid before Parliament in accordance with the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. This Amendment Agreement is intended to renew and update certain provisions in the MDA to ensure their continuing relevance and validity for a further period of 10 years until 31 December 2024. The original MDA and its subsequent amendments are available in the libraries, as they were previously laid under the Ponsonby Rule. In line with long-established practice, and as accepted by Parliament during the 2004 renewal, the annexes of the MDA cannot be placed in the libraries because of the sensitivity of their contents.