Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The cross-party Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy will explore how the UK can help sustain nuclear stability amid increasing concern about adversary intentions, US deterrence and risks around unintended escalation.
The session will also cover the UK’s relationships with India and countries in the Middle East in the context of growing challenges around the trade-offs between security and economic relationships, and the transfer of sensitive technology.
The session forms part of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the UK’s new National Security Strategy, published earlier this year.
Witnesses will include security and geopolitics experts and former senior officials with experience working at NATO, the US State Department, India’s diplomatic service and think tanks.
Members of the Committee are likely to ask witnesses:
• How the UK should respond to the risks of nuclear proliferation and concerns about safeguarding the credibility of the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent;
• The options and risks around reducing strategic dependence on the United States;
• What role the UK could play in containing Iranian activity, and how the Government should prioritise across the Euro-Atlantic, Indo Pacific and Middle East regions;
• How the changing security environment in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East is likely to affect the UK’s relationships in the regions.