The Government will make a decision on whether to build a new nuclear weapon system to replace Trident in this parliament.
This is a key decision for the UK and the world. A decision to build a new UK nuclear bomb will endanger the threatened Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the only international legally binding treaties covering nuclear disarmament. If they fall we face a breakdown of international co-operation leading to a nuclear free for all.
That's why we are launching a campaign to persuade the UK government to take a lead in restarting international disarmament by:
- Taking Trident submarines off patrol and removing the warheads to an internationally monitored storage site in the United Kingdom.
- Cancelling plans to build a new nuclear weapon and halting associated developments at AWE Aldermaston of new laser facilities and super-computers.
- Working closely with other key states to strengthen existing disarmament treaties and to restart global multi-lateral disarmament negotiations.
In the past decisions about nuclear weapons systems have been made in secret with minimal if any parliamentary oversight, never mind public input, with billions of pounds being committed to programmes without any real debate.
Our campaign will seek to ensure that this time there is full and open debate and that the powerful arguments for nuclear disarmament are heard.
The government need to explain to the public why after the end of the cold war the UK needs nuclear weapons. They also need to explain how they expect other countries not to covet nuclear weapons if we implicitly give them military status. For instance why should Iran, facing a hostile US and hostile neighbours with nuclear arsenals not develop their own weapons?
The government also need to explain how they envisage using nuclear weapons. Emerging US doctrine shows their military moving towards smaller, more useable nuclear weapons, using them first, rather than in response to a nuclear strike, and against chemical or biological weapons or in a conventional conflicts (1).
What is the UK government's view on this? Do they really conceive of using nuclear weapons in this way? The evidence to date is that they do, under the Tory government the UK abandoned their 'no first use' of nuclear weapons policy, a previous keystone of disarmament negotiations. And it transformed Trident into a 'substrategic' nuclear weapon which could be used to secure Britain's 'vital interests' overseas.
The Labour Government has never repudiated this doctrine and in the run up to war in Iraq Geoff Hoon, echoing the new US doctrine, shifted the UK position further by repeatedly emphasising that if British forces where threatened by chemical or biological weapons the UK 'reserved the right' to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively.
We need to hear what expert views are, for instance about whether a nuclear strike is a safe way of destroying a biological weapons factory. Just as importantly we need to know how the public feel about UK nuclear weapons being used against a non nuclear country, or in response to a concern that chemical weapons may be used against British forces overseas, or to secure Britain's overseas interests. Past polls indicate the public are strongly opposed to such use, but has this changed?
Greenpeace's position is clear - we oppose the development and use of nuclear weapons. And we believe that it is vital we now kick-start a nuclear disarmament process, which has already led to over half the world's nuclear weapons being decommissioned. That's why we are re-launching our campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons not just in the UK, but worldwide.
We are already pressuring the government to release all relevant information about a possible successor to Trident, by putting in Freedom of Information requests for any studies on the military, foreign policy, and financial consequences of building a new atomic bomb. The responses we've had make it clear reports exist, but also that the government doesn't want the public to know about them (2). We will continue to exert pressure for their release.
Where are the UK's Nuclear Ambitions Taking Us? '
View the leaked pentagon report outlining operational guidance for the new US nuclear posture '
FOIA Requests: MoD refuses information on Trident replacement '
To get copies of the responses to our FOI requests call Louise Edge in the Greenpeace Press Office on 020 7865 8115 or Dominick Jenkins Greenpeace Disarmament Campaigner on 020 7865 8248.
