Home  Media Press Releases Trident CND calls on Brown to follow through proposed nuclear warhead cuts
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CND calls on Brown to follow through proposed nuclear warhead cuts |
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Monday, 12 October 2009 |
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament today called on Gordon Brown to
agree to a reduction in the UK's stocks of nuclear warheads, as
reportedly being investigated by officials. As covered in today's
Financial Times [note 3], Downing Street officials are said to be considering
the possibility of a 25% cut in warhead numbers from around 160 to
around 120. This would complement the reduction in the number of
missile tubes from 16 to 12 on the Vanguard-successor submarines [note 4],
planned to be built as part of the Trident replacement programme, and
the potential reduction from four to three submarines, proposed by
Gordon Brown last month and to be decided upon in December.
Kate
Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said "We
strongly urge Gordon Brown to go ahead with this proposed reduction.
Making the cut before the crucial non-proliferation and disarmament
talks in the spring would be a real boost to efforts to reduce and then
rid the world of these most awful of weapons. The US and Russia are
expected to announce major cut-backs over coming months and a British
initiative would pile pressure on other nuclear states to follow suit.
If serious momentum can be built before the review of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty in May then the chances of a breakthrough deal
there are greatly increased.
"Serious movement on reducing warheads
helps reinforce the positive trend towards 'global zero', but it
remains the case that the biggest contribution that Britain could make
to multilateral disarmament would be to scrap the Trident system and
its replacement altogether.
"This
cut is a start but it is only a step
in the right direction. A 25% warhead cut will not provide significant
cost savings on the £100bn bill for British nuclear weapons over the
lifetime of Trident and its replacement. As recently as this summer
ministers sneaked out a £1bn a year funding boost to the Atomic Weapons
Establishment at Aldermaston, announced by a written statement during
the Parliamentary recess [note 5]. New developments there continue
apace, whilst scrapping Trident now would free up tens of billions of
pounds for socially useful spending, from health and education to
housing and transport, currently under threat from recessionary
cut-backs."
- For further information and interviews please contact Ben Soffa, CND's Press Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859
- The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe's
biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 35,000 members in the
UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org
- Financial Times story: Brown weighs up 25 per cent cut in nuclear warheads, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8e44d97e-b6c5-11de-8a28-00144feab49a.html
- Missile tube cutback: In a speech at the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference in
London, Brown said of the Trident replacement submarines,
"our latest assessment is that we can meet this [defence] requirement with 12 -
not 16 - missile tubes, as are on current submarines".
- Atomic Weapons Establishment spending to include a further £1bn a year: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2009-09-09a.136WS.0
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