To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his Department's evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee's inquiry into Global Security: Non Proliferation, HC 222, EV 118, under what circumstances the UK will include Trident warheads in a negotiation to reduce warhead numbers; and if he will make a statement. (282049)

The Government are at the forefront of international efforts to create the conditions for a world free from nuclear weapons. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said on 17 March 2009 that as soon as it becomes useful for our minimum deterrent, currently represented by the Trident system, to be included in a broader disarmament negotiation, we stand ready to participate and act. However, to reach that point would require a much more secure and predictable global political and security environment. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary set out in detail the conditions needed for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the steps that could be taken towards achieving them in the paper “Lifting the Nuclear Shadow” published in February 2009.