Criticism Of British Nuclear Policy In Congress

EDM number 142 in 1993-94, proposed by Llew Smith on 01/12/1993.

That this House notes with interest the critical comments on British nuclear policy voiced in Congress on 18th November by Mike Kopetski (Democrat-Oregon) and Elizabeth Furse (Democrat-Oregon); wishes to draw the attention of the House to their argument that British nuclear policy is threatening to undermine and thwart United States nuclear non-proliferation objectives; agrees with the Representatives that the British approach toward nuclear testing, in particular, has been to place its own narrow plans to test to develop new weapons above the broader benefits of a Comprehensive Test Ban for international efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation; agrees with Representative Kopetski's description of the US-UK underground testing programme in Nevada as 'environmental havoc', for which the United Kingdom will one day have to pay its share of cleaning up and commends his candour in posing the questions 'would Britain continue to test its nuclear bombs if they had to use their own soil to test these bombs? Would the British people allow the detonation of nuclear bombs under their soil?'; would only seek to qualify these criticisms by acknowledging that American nuclear policy retains a commitment to keep nuclear weapons at high levels, to maintain a strategic nuclear triad, and to use nuclear weapons first if necessary, and that this lack of radicalism itself contradicts and undermines United States non-proliferation efforts; and therefore calls for a candour in disclosing details of recent US-UK talks over nuclear weapons and testing policy similar to that forced upon the Government over discussions with the IRA over Ireland.

This motion has been signed by a total of 39 MPs.