Britain ready to sign treaty to ban cluster bombs but MOD opposes plan

Britain is set to scrap its collection of cluster bombs and millions of pounds will be spent on destroying them, it has emerged.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given his backing for the Foreign Office to sign a treaty banning the use of the bombs because of the threat they pose to civilians.

However the Ministry of Defence has opposed the move claiming that the cost will be huge.

There are also fears that the US military, who have no intention of ditching their own cluster bombs, could be strained by the ban.

Cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions - bomblets.

Senior Foreign Office sources said that the definition of cluster bombs which was now being agreed would apply to the M85 and the M73.

Britain’s negotiating team in Dublin includes military advisers from the Ministry of Defence who, until now, have emphasised that both the M85 and M73 cluster-bomb systems were needed to protect British troops when confronted by an enemy in armoured vehicles.

But the sources said: 'The policy we’re adopting is a British government position.'

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The ban would also be a triumph for International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, who has been concerned about their impact on poorer nations.

An engineer places a charge on an unexploded bomblet found in the desert in Iraq for the safety of civilians

It is unclear when the ban will come into place if successful, but Britain, Germany, Japan and Switzerland had asked for a "transition period" of seven to fifteen years to replace the estimated military capability gap.

This, however, has been rejected by many Non-governmental organisations and anti-cluster bomb campaign groups attending the Dublin conference.

Deadly: Cluster bombs being loaded onto a US warship but the government is calling for a ban on the weapon

Foreign Office sources have indicated that this sticking point will not scupper the treaty.

The change in Britain's negotiating tactics was ordered by Gordon Brown last week.

'If we sign the treaty, which we expect to do, we will lose the M85 and M73 and it will prove expensive,' the sources said.

'When Britain scrapped another cluster-bomb system, the M26, it cost £30 million to destroy the stocks.'

The draft text for a treaty is expected to be ready by tonight, and formal adoption agreed on Friday, although the treaty itself will not be signed until December 2 at a ceremony in Oslo.