Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

EDM number 1030 in 1995-96, proposed by Harry Cohen on 20/06/1996.

That this House considers that the Conservative Government has a poor record in respect of negotiating a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty; recalls that negotiations for such a ban were started by a Labour Government in 1978 and that Labour has consistently pressed for a comprehensive test ban; recalls that the negotiations for a treaty were suspended by the first government led by Baroness Thatcher, that the Conservative Government then spent over a decade opposed to any negotiations on nuclear testing, that Britain was forced to cease nuclear testing by the imposition of a moratorium by the United States of America, that Britain has not declared a moratorium of its own and that Britain failed to condemn recent nuclear tests by France and China; further recalls that the Conservative Government dropped its insistence on retaining options to carry out safety tests only as recently as April 1995 and that it accepted the concept of a zero-yield treaty only as recently as August 1995; congratulates the states of the world that have been consistently in favour of ending nuclear testing; encourages Her Majesty's Government, despite its poor past record, to do all in its power to conclude a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty in the coming days; and demands that the Government gives an assurance that, once signed, such a treaty will be ratified by the United Kingdom with all speed.

This motion has been signed by a total of 38 MPs.