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Why CND opposes Trident

CND believes that all nuclear weapons are illegal, immoral and a waste of resources. They do nothing to increase security in the world and make difficult situations even worse.

CND is opposed to the UK Trident nuclear weapon system for the following reasons:

  • Even a single Trident warhead would, if used, devastate a huge area. Each warhead has seven times the destructive killing power of the bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. That bomb killed 140,000 people. Nuclear weapons cannot distinguish between military and civilian targets.
  • In 1996, the International Court of Justice ruled that "the threat or use of nuclear weapons would be generally contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law".
  • Britain, along with 186 other countries, has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which states that all countries must get rid of their nuclear weapons.
  • Britain says that it needs nuclear weapons in order to defend itself. The logical conclusion of that argument is that all countries should have nuclear weapons. That is something that very few people would agree to. The way some see that is that it is acceptable for the so-called 'civilised' countries to have them but not everyone.
  • The Trident system costs the UK up to £1.5 billion every year. CND believes that this money would be better spent on more useful things like education, health and housing.
  • Possession of nuclear weapons also makes Britain more of a target, in particular the bases connected with Trident.
Britain claims that Trident is a 'deterrent'. That means that by having nuclear weapons, other countries will not use such weapons against you. This was highlighted throughout the Cold War and was known as 'Mutually Assured Destruction’, or perhaps appropriately – MAD. The theory was that the West, led by the US and the East, led by the Soviet Union, would not fight a nuclear war as each side knew that the other could destroy the world several times over.

But Britain has threatened to actually use Trident if necessary. The government maintains that a 'sub-strategic' use of Trident, generally thought to mean a single warhead, could be launched if British interests abroad were threatened. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon also indicated that Britain would consider using nuclear weapons in the war on Iraq in 2003 either in response to an attack with chemical or biological weapons, or even to pre-empt such an attack. These options would be against international agreements. (See BBC Breakfast with Frost interview February 2nd, 2003.

CND calls on the British Government to implement the unequivocal commitment to accomplish the elimination of Britain's nuclear weapons it gave in 2000 and to demonstrate this commitment by immediately taking steps to decommission the UK Trident programme and rule out plans for future nuclear weapon systems.