2nd Report - Scrutiny of International Agreements: Amendment to the UK-US Agreement for Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defence

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government welcomes the Committee's report and, rather than a report every ten years on the Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA), commits to "a more regular update" through its annual Defence Nuclear Enterprise update.

• The Government reports that the amendments to the MDA entered into force on 14 November 2024, following completion of the US Congressional review period and the requirements under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG).
• It "notes" the Committee's request for a commitment to report every ten years, and says there was "no clear programmatic or operational reason" for the particular renewal period, which has "at times" varied from five to ten years.
• It states that it is "considering more widely" how to ensure proper parliamentary scrutiny of the work of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.
• It says any future MDA amendments that fall within the scope of CRaG "would be subject to parliamentary scrutiny in the usual way".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error