In September 2013, UNA-UK submitted evidence to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee’s ‘Deterrence in the 21st Century’ inquiry. The Committee published UNA-UK’s evidence, in addition to submissions from, for example, the Ministry of Defence, Professor Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield, the Royal United Services Institute and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in late November.
In its submission, UNA-UK questioned the defensive value of the UK’s nuclear deterrent and its prominence in security postures; emphasised the continuing importance of the UK’s commitment to multilateral nuclear disarmament and its international obligations in this regard; and probed moral and ethical questions around the potential use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons. As James Kearney, UNA Peace and Security Programmes Manager, stated in the UNA-UK contribution:
“A starting point for its retention and use must also imagine the situation where it might be used. A nuclear weapon is neither made nor capable of striking with pinprick precision or to affect limited collateral damage. Even the smallest nuclear weapons will have a devastating impact. For example, it is estimated that the smallest yield within warheads fitted to the Trident missiles probably lie close to the yields demonstrated by the British ‘Julin Bristol’ tests carried out in 1991 in Nevada, USA. This would be comparable to the first atomic weapon detonated over Japan in 1945 which killed tens of thousands of people directly. Any discussion of the deterrent must also envisage its use, and envisage the consequences of its use…”
For more information on UNA-UK’s Towards Zero programme, contact James Kearney, UNA-UK Peace and Security Programmes Manager, at kearney@una.org.uk or on 020 7766 3446.
