The Labour government has been accused of breaching the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as a minister gave a speech in New York to the UN at the start of the NPT Review Conference, which was quietly published on the government’s website.

The 11th Review Conference of the NPT is taking place from 27 April to 22 May. According to a House of Commons Library research briefing published on 20 April, states that are parties to the treaty, along with observers and non-governmental organisations:

will meet to discuss the functioning of the treaty, the implementation of its provisions and the state of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation more broadly.

The briefing warned that “there are concerns that a belief in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation is under threat”, as nuclear weapons states modernise and expand their arsenals, while at the same time:

there has been a move away from nuclear arms control as an enabler of confidence building and strategic stability.

In February, the UK Government was accused of “sitting on the sidelines” of international nuclear weapons risk-reduction diplomacy, following the expiration of New START (New Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty), which limited the number of nuclear weapons the US and Russia could hold.

The briefing added:

A world without nuclear weapons is seen to be steadily eroding.

World ‘just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation’

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) issued a press release on 24 April where it said:

The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, further the goals of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

It represents the only legally binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States (NWS).

While the NPT is the only legally binding treaty signed by the NWS aimed at disarmament, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is the only comprehensive ban on nuclear weapons, but the NWS have not signed up to the TPNW.

The UNODA continued:

Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. Since then, the NPT has remained the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. 191 States parties have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States, making the NPT one of the most widely adhered-to multilateral disarmament agreements.

Conferences to review the operation of the Treaty have been held at five‑year intervals since its entry into force in 1970, except for the Review Conference originally scheduled for 2020, postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately held in 2022.

The Review Conference will assess the implementation of the Treaty since 2022 across its three pillars: nuclear disarmament, non‑proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The Conference will also seek to identify the areas and means through which further progress can be made.

Speaking at the 10th Review Conference of the NPT on 1 August 2022, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned:

Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation. We need the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as much as ever.

That is why this Review Conference is so important. It’s an opportunity to hammer-out the measures that will help avoid certain disaster. And to put humanity on a new path towards a world free of nuclear weapons.

Doughty pays lip service to the Non-Proliferation Treaty

Speaking at the start of the 11th Review Conference of the NPT on 27 April, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office minister of state Stephen Doughty MP told the UN that the NPT had:

helped limit the spread of nuclear weapons; facilitated access to clean and reliable energy; and has built confidence for responsible nuclear trade.

Much of his speech focused on nuclear weapons threats the UK Government believes are posed by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Iran is not believed to have nuclear weapons.

The speech was published without an accompanying press release from the government, as it sometimes does when it wants to draw attention to particular policies.

He said:

The United Kingdom remains fully committed to the Treaty and our obligations under it, including Article Six.

Article Six says:

Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

Meanwhile, the UK recently lifted its cap on nuclear warheads from 225 to 260 and ended its commitment to transparency around the specific number of warheads it holds.

Doughty went on:

The UK believes that the Treaty remains the only credible route to tackle the nuclear challenges of the decades to come.

We must use the next few weeks to unite behind it.

We want this Conference to deliver a consensus outcome that strengthens implementation of the NPT.

Whether or not we can get there, the Treaty’s role in global security is enduring and undiminished.

But a collective signal that, despite our differences, we can come together to restate common commitments would further strengthen it and send a powerful message.

UK hosting US nukes on RAF jets ‘raises questions’ about commitment to NPT

The Nuclear Information Service (NIS) describes itself as:

an independent, non-profit research organisation. We investigate the UK nuclear weapons programme and publish accurate and reliable information to stimulate informed debate on disarmament and related issues.

NIS co-director Okopi Ajonye told the Canary that the UK may be in violation of its commitments to the NPT, given its commitments to host US nuclear weapons and to expand the UK’s own arsenal.

He said:

There is understandably a lot of attention on the extent to which the UK is complying with the NPT in general. But there also needs to be scrutiny of whether the UK is abiding by the terms for the NPT’s indefinite extension in 2000.

This extension included ’13 Steps’ for states to implement Article VI of the NPT, which is their obligation to nuclear disarmament. The UK has previously voiced support for these measures.

One of those steps was for the principle of ‘irreversibility’ to be attached to nuclear disarmament. This principle boils down to the notion that, once a state relinquishes its nuclear capability, it should implement conditions that make it prohibitively difficult, in material, economic, and political terms, to bring such a capability back.

This is where things can get complicated for the UK. Its nuclear weapons can currently only be delivered by submarines, since it got rid of its air-based nuclear weapons in the late 1990s. But with current plans to buy F-35A fighter jets and potentially participate in NATO’s nuclear sharing, the UK is attempting to resuscitate a nuclear role for its air forces.

Even if ‘renuclearising’ these air forces would be highly difficult in practice, it still raises questions concerning the UK’s commitment to the irreversibility principle.

Furthermore, the F-35A fighter jets themselves can compound the difficulty of irreversible nuclear disarmament, since these aircraft can now be used for both nuclear and conventional missions.

Earlier in April 2026, campaigners told the Canary that the UK Government must stop hosting Trump’s nuclear weapons, following the president’s veiled threat to use them against Iran.

Ajonye continued:

Another one of the 13 steps was that nuclear weapons states should be more transparent about their arsenals. But the UK has previously and continues to be less transparent in this regard. It long reversed its practice of sharing information on its operational stockpile and deployed missiles and warheads.

On top of that, there’s been less detailed reporting and fewer clear answers to public or parliamentary questions concerning the status of its nuclear weapons programme.

Government ‘taking us for fools’ on its professed commitment to the NPT

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Sophie Bolt told the Canary:

The government is taking us for fools when ministers like Doughty claim Britain is committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, when in reality it has been actively breaching it for years. This is evident in legal opinions sought by CND, which found that both the 2021 decision to increase Britain’s warhead limit, as well as last year’s announcement by Keir Starmer to purchase nuclear-capable F-35As for the RAF breach the NPT.

Under Article 6 of the Treaty it stipulates that nuclear weapons states must ‘pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.’ Furthermore, pilots for these F-35A planes will be trained to carry US B61-12 nuclear bombs, which mounting evidence suggests were deployed to RAF Lakenheath last summer.

By actively modernising their nuclear arsenal and submarines, expanding its nuclear capabilities by purchasing the F-35A, and allowing US nuclear bombs to return to Britain, Starmer’s government is engaging in complete nuclear hypocrisy.

It has facilitated the illegal bombing of Iran by nuclear-armed Israel and the US by allowing the use of Britain bases, despite Iran engaging in negotiations over its nuclear programme at the time of the attacks. We are at the start of a new nuclear arms race and it’s critical that we do all we can to get the government to take its disarmament responsibilities seriously.

The cross-party consensus in the UK remains firmly on the side of keeping our nuclear weapons, apart from glimmers of hope for disarmament in the Scottish National Party and the newly buoyant Green Party of England and Wales.

Featured image via the Canary

By Tom Pashby

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