MPs will join CND General Secretary Kate Hudson at 10 Downing Street tomorrow to hand in a letter urging the UK to take the lead amongst nuclear weapon states and commit to scrapping Trident.
MPs Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) and Mike Weir (SNP) will join Kate Hudson as the letter is handed in. Civil society organisations will simultaneously hand in letters at UK embassies in Washington D.C., Tokyo and New Delhi.
Representatives of the UK, US, China, France and Russia – the five permanent members (P5) of the UN security council – which are committed to nuclear disarmament under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), are gathering for their sixth meeting specifically on this issue since 2009. This meeting of the P5 is taking place just three months ahead of this year’s NPT Review Conference.
The letter urges the UK to take the lead on disarmament:
‘The UK, having originally shown leadership in establishing the P5 meetings in 2009, should continue to move the process forward and be the first of the P5 states to take a new bold step – by announcing it will not replace the Trident nuclear weapon system.
By making such a statement, the UK would hugely strengthen and advance the growing global call for a new legal process that would complement the NPT process and ban nuclear weapons. The P5 should explicitly support this process’.
The letter ends with the demand:
‘ACT NOW. DISARM NOW. SCRAP TRIDENT.’
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary, said:
‘The UK, as the host country of this event, is best positioned to change the direction of the P5 and demonstrate a lead on disarmament at the meeting. With all five states formally committed to disarmament, they are in reality all planning to upgrade and enhance their nuclear weapons programmes in the coming years.
‘It is the UK that should break the deadlock. A decision on replacing the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon system is due in 2016, putting nuclear disarmament at the top of the UK political agenda for the next twelve months.
‘Politicians going into the general election need to get off the fence and make it clear: that they will not sink £100bn of public money into yesterday’s weapons, and that they will stand up for ordinary people and deliver on our longstanding disarmament commitments.’
FULL LETTER TEXT:
Dear Prime Minister,
On 4th and 5th February, the five Non-Proliferation Treaty recognised nuclear weapon states – the P5 – are meeting in London to discuss progress on commitments to nuclear disarmament.
The 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings looms over their meeting and the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference requires a bold new statement to deliver on nuclear disarmament.
The UK, as the host country, is best positioned to change the direction of the P5 and demonstrate a lead on disarmament at the meeting.
With each of the states committing to upgrade and enhance their nuclear weapons programmes in the coming years, they are already undermining their commitment to disarm and are in conflict with the growing desire for disarmament demonstrated by the series of humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons conferences.
The UK, having originally shown leadership in establishing the P5 meetings in 2009, should continue to move the process forward and be the first of the P5 states to take a new bold step – by announcing it will not replace the Trident nuclear weapon system.
By making such a statement, the UK would hugely strengthen and advance the growing global call for a new legal process that would complement the NPT process and ban nuclear weapons. The P5 should explicitly support this process
We urge you: ACT NOW. DISARM NOW. SCRAP TRIDENT.