United Kingdom breaks international treaty obligations with nuclear expansion plans

The government of the United Kingdom has announced its intention to expand its arsenal of nuclear weapons by 40%, which would bring its total to 260 warheads. Each warhead is estimated to have an explosive power of around 100 kilotons, making them significantly more dangerous than the 15 kt bomb which devastated Hiroshima in 1945, causing the death of approximately 140,000 people by the end of the year.

Responding the news, the UN Secretary General's office described the plans as contrary to the UK's obligations under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Irish CND is shocked and repulsed by this move by our nearest neighbour to increase the capacity of its weapons of mass destruction. At a time when the planet faces existential threats from climate change and global biodiversity loss, not to mention the likelihood of future pandemics in addition to the current Covid-19 crisis, pouring vast sums into the power of destruction is reckless and immoral.

In 2019, the UK spent £7.2 billion on its nuclear weapons. How many doctors, nurses, intensive care beds and ventilators could that money have financed? How many programmes to decarbonise the UK economy and lessen the impacts of climate change could it have supported?

Denouncing the plans, Irish CND chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, said: "At a time when the United Kingdom claims to aspire to a renewed role in global leadership, its government has chosen to cling desperately to the flotsam of the failed policies of the 1950s and '60s instead of looking to the future with a meaningful vision of global security. Nuclear weapons have never made the world safer. They can play no part in tackling the genuine crises that the world faces today.

"This egotistical move threatens suffering and death on an unimaginable scale, were these weapons ever to be detonated, either by accident or intentionally. Even if they are never used, this move will still contribute to suffering and death for many, many people, both in the UK and further afield, which could have been averted by putting the huge cost of these weapons to better use. Nuclear weapons are a symbol of shame, not status, for the British government."

"In 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was agreed by a significant majority of UN member states. It entered into force in January 2021. This is clearly what the world wants and needs for nuclear weapons: to consign them to the dustbin of history. We urge the UK and other countries which have not yet done so to follow Ireland's lead in joining the TPNW and committing to a world free of nuclear weapons." 

Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (of which Irish CND is a partner organisation), stated: “A decision by the United Kingdom to increase its stockpile of weapons of mass destruction in the middle of a pandemic is irresponsible, dangerous and violates international law. While the British people are struggling to cope with the pandemic, an economic crisis, violence against women, and racism, the government choses to increase insecurity and threats in the world. This is toxic masculinity on display.”

“While the majority of the world’s nations are leading the way to a safer future without nuclear weapons by joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the United Kingdom is pushing for a dangerous new nuclear arms race.”

The move was also strongly criticised by Mayor Kazumi Matsui of Hiroshima, who stated: "Its implementation would run counter to the nuclear disarmament obligation of NPT States Parties and reverse three decades of nuclear weapon reduction policy by the United Kingdom. Such steps can only result in further acceleration of the arms race and weakening international security and stability."