• Introduction
• Trident Statement
• Faslane Blockade
• Faslane Interview
• Faslane Photos
• Trident Petition

IPPNW Statement on Trident Vote

The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is deeply troubled by today's vote in the British House of Commons to back Prime Minister Tony Blaire's plan to renew Trident. The United Kingdom had a unique opportunity to take a bold and courageous lead toward ending the nuclear nightmare, but instead will seek the indefinite possession of nuclear weapons.

The decision to extend the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system until 2055 will undermine efforts by the international community to control the spread of nuclear weapons. The 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is already under severe stress, due in large part to the failure of the United Kingdom and the other nuclear weapons states - the United States, Russia, China and France - to honor their NPT obligations to pursue, and bring to a conclusion, negotiations on nuclear disarmament. The renewal and modernization of Trident vitiates the pledge the UK made nearly 40 years ago in exchange for a pledge from the non-nuclear weapons signatories to remain forever nuclear weapon-free.

All abstract arguments about deterrence, and national security, and the dangers of a post-911 world aside, what this really comes down to is a refusal by the British Government, now with the blessing of Parliament, to give up its power to inflict catastrophic levels of instantaneous death and environmental destruction on innocent human populations.

Last January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists issued a dire warning when it moved the minute hand of its Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight, the figurative end of civilization. "Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices," stressed the Bulletin. The choice to renew Trident makes the probability of the use of nuclear weapons more, not less, likely.

IPPNW has long held the position that there is only one course of action that can prevent catastrophe: the nuclear double standard has to end, and the process of complete global nuclear disarmament has to begin.

The world is edging ever closer toward a nuclear catastrophe, with the window of opportunity to control proliferation and to end the constant threat of nuclear annihilation closing quickly. The UK could play a critical role in leading us away from that disaster. Instead, Parliament has moved in exactly the wrong direction. Let us hope that wiser voices prevail and Parliament reverses this terrible decision.