Britain's Strategic Interests — 7 Jun 2000

The majority of MPs voted against the motion, which read:^[1]

• This House
• believes that the strategic interests of the United Kingdom will best be served by collective action through the United Nations, NATO, the Commonwealth, the European Security and Defence Identity and similar political, economic and military institutions and initiatives;
• is concerned that the opportunities for a reduction in nuclear weapons have been prejudiced by the refusal of the United States Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and by the proposal that the United States should deploy a system of National Missile Defence, if necessary in breach of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty;
• welcomes the 'unequivocal' declaration of the five permanent members of the Security Council that they will seek to eliminate all nuclear weapons in fulfilment of their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;
• calls upon Her Majesty's Government to state, first, what its policy is towards the United States proposal for National Missile Defence and, secondly, what steps it proposes to take to fulfil its pledge to seek to eliminate nuclear weapons;
• congratulates the armed forces of the Crown on their successful military campaigns in Kosovo and Sierra Leone but expresses disappointment that in the latter case Her Majesty's Government has chosen to deploy UK forces independently of the United Nations peacekeeping force and not as part of it and thereby failed to strengthen the UN effort and to enhance its credibility; and
• calls upon Her Majesty's Government to publish the policy criteria by which it determines that there is a need for intervention.

This motion was then replaced by a new one, which read:^[2]

• This House
• believes that the strategic interests of the United Kingdom are normally best served through collective action through the United Nations, NATO, the Commonwealth, the European Security and Defence Identity, and similar political, economic and military institutions and initiatives, and with allies, but that the United Kingdom should reserve the right to act independently where absolutely necessary;
• notes that the United States has not yet taken a decision to deploy a National Missile Defence, and that Her Majesty's Government has made clear, both to the US and to Russia, that it wishes to see the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and strategic stability, preserved;
• welcomes Her Majesty's Government's intention to pursue its pledge to seek to eliminate nuclear weapons through bilateral and multilateral negotiations, including through the Non-Proliferation Treaty machinery; and
• recalls that a principal aim of the deployment of British forces to Sierra Leone was to allow the deployment of additional UN forces, which is now well under way, and to support the UN effort there, and as such has been welcomed by the UN Secretary General.

which then passed automatically without a further vote.

No members of the Conservative Party participated in this vote.

• [1] Menzies Campbell MP, House of Commons, 7 June 2000
• [2] Peter Hain MP, House of Commons, 7 June 2000

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