Britain announced for the first time today that it had set a limit on its nuclear weapons stockpile, at 225 warheads, and said it would re-examine its policy on use of nuclear weapons.
The announcements, timed to coincide with a major UN nuclear non-proliferation conference in New York, reflect a drive by Britain's coalition government to be more open about the country's nuclear arsenal.
Previously, Britain had only made public the number of operationally available nuclear warheads for its Trident missile-armed submarine fleet, and had given no figure for the overall stockpile.
"For the first time, the government will make public the maximum number of nuclear warheads that the UK will hold in its stockpile. In the future our overall stockpile will not exceed 225 nuclear warheads," UK foreign secretary William Hague told parliament.
The ceiling on operationally available nuclear warheads would stay at 160, he said. The extra warheads are to allow for "processing, maintenance and logistic management", the government said.
Mr Hague said the new government would review Britain's policy on when it would consider using nuclear weapons as part of a wide-ranging defence and security review launched by the new government, which took office after the May 6th election.
Britain had long said it would only consider using nuclear weapons in "extreme circumstances" of self-defence, including the defence of Nato allies, but had been deliberately ambiguous over the precise circumstances of use, he said.
"We've decided that the time is right to look again at our policy as the US has done in their recent Nuclear Posture Review to ensure that it is fully appropriate to the political and security context in 2010 and beyond," Mr Hague said.
UK defence secretary Liam Fox said in a statement Britain remained committed to its nuclear deterrent.
President Barack Obama last month unveiled a new policy restricting US use of nuclear weapons, for the first time foreswearing their use against non-nuclear countries, provided they complied with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Mr Hague said he hoped his announcement would help build trust between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states.
Britain and other nuclear weapons states are striving to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as Iran. Those countries often argue that established nuclear powers are doing nothing to reduce their arsenals as the NPT urges. Britain has the smallest arsenal of the five legally-recognised nuclear weapons states.
The United States and Russia agreed recently to limit the number of operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550.
In 2008, France said it would leave its submarine missile arsenal in place while cutting its stock of air-launched weapons by a third to around 290 warheads. China is estimated to have about 250 nuclear weapons.
Reuters