asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the use of nuclear weapons in space as a component of the strategic defence initiative.

The United Kingdom is a party to the partial test ban treaty, which prohibits nuclear explosions in space, and the outer space treaty of 1967, which prohibits the stationing in space of nuclear weapons; so is the United States. The United States has stated that the strategic defence initiative research programme is being conducted in a manner fully consistent with existing United States treaty commitments.