BOLTON North-east MP David Crausby has welcomed the announcement that Britain has successfully destroyed its old chemical weapons.

The £10 million destruction programme has seen 3,812 weapons destroyed by armed forces bomb disposal teams and other experts to meet an April 2007 deadline, set by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Britain gave up its offensive chemical weapons capability in the 1950s.

Mr Crausby said: "Our goal is a world without chemical weapons and so we call upon all states to abandon their chemical weapons programmes and destroy their stockpiles."