Steps towards disarmament

Early day motion 1667, tabled 22 March 2021 by Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party). Signed by 58 members.

That this House notes with concern the statement in the Government’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development, and Foreign Policy that the ceiling on the number of nuclear warheads held by the UK is to increase by 40 percent, reversing the longstanding trend of gradual reductions; further notes with concern that the Review amends nuclear policy to reserve the right for the UK to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats; considers that increasing the UK's nuclear arsenal is contrary to obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 1968, as stated by UN Secretary General António Guterres, and risks starting a new nuclear arms race; regrets that the proposed changes in nuclear posture run contrary to international momentum towards global nuclear abolition through the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that entered into force on 22 January 2021; and urges the Prime Minister to demonstrate true global leadership towards a world without nuclear weapons by abandoning his planned increase in the UK’s nuclear arsenal and immoral change in nuclear weapons’ policy and by committing his government to taking further steps towards disarmament.

Signatures by party: Scottish National Party 30, Labour 18, Independent 4, Plaid Cymru 3, Green 1, Liberal Democrat 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.