Written question asked by Austin Mitchell (Labour) on Friday, 3 June 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 June 2005. It was answered by Lord Reid of Cardowan (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 June 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Nuclear Weapons (Lakenheath)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK nuclear weapons are available for use by the Government; and how many US tactical nuclear weapons there are at RAF Lakenheath.

Answer: In line with the policy set out in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the United Kingdom maintains a stockpile of less than 200 operationally available Trident warheads, 48 of which are onboard the single submarine on deterrent patrol.On the issue of US nuclear weapons, NATO's Strategic Concept (paragraph 63) states that:"““nuclear forces based in Europe and committed to NATO provide an essential political and military link between the European and North American members of the Alliance. The Alliance will therefore maintain adequate nuclear forces in Europe.””"Numbers of US nuclear weapons in the UK can and do vary, and the capability for deployments of such weapons to and from the UK remains extant regardless of the particular number of weapons in the UK at any given time.It is NATO and national policy not to comment on the detail of such nuclear deployments.

Secondary information