Letter from Heather Williams

 

 

I request that the Committee considers the following points in its deliberations:

 

1. The Non-Proliferation Treaty has been effective in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to all states in the world which had not tested a nuclear weapon before January 1967. Their good faith however has been betrayed by the 5 states, namely China, France, Russia, the UK and the US, who have not kept to the promise they made in Article 6 to 'pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date'. Far from keeping to their agreement these states are modernising their nuclear arsenals and putting the continued effectiveness of the NPT in danger of collapse.

 

2. The UK could take a world lead in honouring its commitment under Article 6 and abandon plans to renew Trident.

 

3. The UK should refuse to allow the US to use the Yorkshire bases of Fylingdales and Menwith Hill for the US missile defence system, which is leading to a new arms race.

 

30 August 2008