The government has thrown its support behind the US over its withdrawal from an international treaty that helped to end the Cold War nuclear arms race.

Mark Field, a Foreign Office minister, heaped the blame for the treaty’s collapse firmly on Russia and accused the country of “obfuscation and contradictions” when challenged on its development of missiles that contravene the terms of the deal.

He spoke in the Commons yesterday three days after President Trump started the formal process to pull the US out of the agreement, which has a six-month cooling-off period, unless Russia abandons the outlawed missiles.

The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, signed in 1987, was intended to defuse tensions in the Cold War. It banned the development, production and use by