Nato summit in Warsaw, Poland, where Cameron announced MP vote on replacing ageing Trident submarines on July 18. Dominic Lipinski \/ Press Association. All rights reserved.The UK
\nhas consistently opposed discussion at the United Nations on possible routes
\ntoward the elimination of nuclear weapons.\u00a0
\nThis has been described as \u2018scandalous\u2019
\nby some and for good reason.\u00a0 In recent
\nyears the UK has strongly resisted any discussion of multilateral disarmament
\nin forums outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review
\nConference.\u00a0 At the 2010 NPT Review
\nConference, the UK was instrumental in voting down the proposal of the United
\nNations Secretary General for an international conference on his five-point
\nplan for multilateral disarmament.\u00a0 The
\nUK has opposed the establishment of two UN Open-Ended Working Groups on
\nmultilateral disarmament \u2013 these have subsequently taken place anyway.\u00a0 The UK government is currently boycotting
\nUN talks that will deliver proposals on multilateral disarmament to the UN
\nGeneral Assembly this year.<\/i><\/p>\n
Under the NPT, the UK is committed
\nto \u2018negotiation in good faith\u2019.\u00a0 Yet these
\nrecent talks among UN member states do not even amount to \u2018negotiation\u2019 at this
\nstage. These are discussions,
\nno more, and they are necessary as the path to zero nuclear weapons is not
\nyet clear.\u00a0 The elimination of
\nnuclear weapons will take time and effort to achieve.\u00a0 It will require some of the brightest and
\nmost experienced diplomatic minds to work out how best to make progress.\u00a0 All the more reason then for the UK to join with
\nothers in mapping the route to zero and the likely stages on the journey.<\/p>\n
The UK Government\u2019s reticence can
\nbe partly explained in that the UK is one of only five states to have a temporary
\nstatus as a recognised nuclear weapons power under the NPT.\u00a0 In the past the Government has perceived that
\nthe UK gains status as a nation by holding and maintaining nuclear
\nweapons.\u00a0 The leasing of Trident missiles
\nfrom the United States is a unique arrangement that is viewed as cementing the
\nUK\u2019s special relationship on security matters \u2013 although it also says something
\nabout the balance in this relationship.\u00a0 In
\naddressing the fallout of \u2018Brexit\u2019 on international relations, further commitment
\nto spending on Trident was hailed
\nby Theresa May as demonstrating that the UK remains engaged in world
\naffairs.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
But international perspectives on
\nnuclear weapons are changing fast.\u00a0 There
\nis a growing appreciation that the unequal status of nuclear-weapon and
\nnon-nuclear weapon states in the NPT cannot be maintained indefinitely.\u00a0 The humanitarian
\nagenda around nuclear weapons is re-framing the debate.\u00a0 Inevitably, the UK will find even exploratory
\ndiscussion of the path to zero challenging as any clarity here will potentially
\ndiminish, or even reverse, the diplomatic value of Trident.\u00a0 The likely introduction of a treaty banning
\nnuclear weapons, supported by a majority of states, will further stigmatise the
\nUK\u2019s nuclear arsenal.\u00a0 A relatively
\nactive civil society in Britain and respect for international humanitarian law
\ncauses the UK Government to be a little more exposed to such pressure than most
\nother nuclear-armed states.<\/p>\n
If the UK continues to attempt to
\nblock discussion in the UN, this discussion will nevertheless take place
\nwithout us.\u00a0 The message is clear – you
\ncan run but you cannot hide.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
There is another way.\u00a0 The UK occupies a unique position.\u00a0 Among the recognised nuclear powers, the UK
\nis the only state that considers itself bound by the International Court of
\nJustice.\u00a0 The nation enjoys strong relationships
\nwith Commonwealth states, many of whom are located in Nuclear Weapons Free
\nZones.\u00a0 This uniqueness provides the UK
\nwith an unparalleled capacity to engage the international community in defining
\npaths to zero while simultaneously addressing the concerns of nuclear weapons
\nstates and their allies around strategic stability.\u00a0 The UK could, with a little difficulty, pursue
\nthis mission even if Parliament decides to build new Trident successor
\nsubmarines.\u00a0 At the eye-watering cost of
\n\u00a341 billion, these submarines would remain a colossal waste of money.\u00a0 But they should not prevent us from
\ndelivering on the stated commitment of successive UK Government administrations
\nto multilateral disarmament. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nato summit in Warsaw, Poland, where Cameron announced MP vote on replacing ageing Trident submarines on July 18. Dominic Lipinski \/ Press Association. All rights reserved.The UK has consistently opposed discussion at the United Nations on possible routes toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.\u00a0 This has been described as \u2018scandalous\u2019 by some and for good…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}