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Nuclear weapons - the problems
Oil fields on fire following the Gulf War in Kuwait
The continued existence of nuclear weapons is often justified by claiming they make the world a safer place.
But nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction. There are approximately 27,000 nuclear weapons in the world, belonging to nine countries: the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. More than 2,500 of them are still on hair-trigger alert - ready to launch at a moment's notice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"The weapons [which nearly led to nuclear war in the Cuba crisis etc] are still there and the potential for misjudgment is still there, and the only way to avoid that in the long term is to eliminate nuclear weapons, that should be our objective, in a very real sense it's the lesson of the cold war."--Robert McNamara, Former US Secretary of Defense
As well as the devastating impacts of the nuclear bombs on the cities and peoples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have left a legacy of global and regional contamination. People living near the test sites have suffered from cancers, still births, miscarriages and other health effects and are still suffering today.
And now new PM Gordon Brown plans to build more. He has revealed that he intends to honour Tony Blair's 'legacy' request build a new nuclear weapon to replace the current Trident nuclear weapons system. The decision has been rushed through without full, open debate or proper consideration, despite the fact that the government admits there is no foreseeable military threat to the UK's security.
If the UK builds a new nuclear bomb now and has no intention of honouring our international legal commitments, it is an invitation for every other country to follow suit and will come at a great cost the country and global cooperation.
Breaking international law
Along with the world's other nuclear powers, the UK pledged to get rid of its nuclear weapons in 1970 and again in 2000. In exchange, non-nuclear weapons states agreed that they would not pursue their own nuclear weapons.
By renewing, replacing or upgrading Trident the UK would be breaking its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), If the UK government holds on to its nuclear weapons 'just in case' there is ever a threat in the future, we're still breaking our good faith obligation. It's a recipe for the destruction of the international disarmament process.
Provoking non-nuclear states to acquire weapons
Trident submarines patrol constantly, carrying the same destructive power as almost 400 Hiroshima bombs. They are capable of destroying targets almost anywhere on Earth.
Understandably, many non-nuclear countries are feeling a bit nervous and are fed up that nuclear states have not kept up their end of the bargain to disarm. Inevitably this has led to some of them trying to develop their own bombs, with greater or lesser success.
By refusing to disarm and building a new nuclear weapon, the UK is encouraging the proliferation of weapons that the NPT was created to combat and threatens to reignite the arms race.
Former UN Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix warns: "So long as any state has nuclear weapons, others will want them. So long as any such weapons remain, there is a risk that they will one day be used, by design or accident. And any such use would be catastrophic."
A distraction from the real threat climate change
It will cost taxpayers £76 billion for the government to build and maintain a new nuclear weapons system. There is no foreseeable military threat to the UK. It will not deter a suicide bomber.
But the cost will be much greater. The government agrees that the greatest threat we face is climate change; 150,000 people already die each year due to climate change impacts. But the government wants to waste £76 billion on Trident instead of putting the UK on a low-carbon pathway essential to avoid catastrophic climate impacts. And in the process stress international relations at a time when we will all need to work together to tackle the threat of climate change.