Christian CND has welcomed the motion passed by Renfrewshire Council in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The motion follows a similar move by Manchester City Council in November. Both authorities have called on the UK government to engage with the Treaty.
The initiative to encourage local authorities to pass these motions is being led by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons along with Nuclear Free Local Authorities, a network of councillors across the UK.
Renfrewshire Council’s NFLA representative Councillor Audrey Doig, who proposed the resolution said: “I am honoured to have proposed this resolution to Renfrewshire Council and proud it has given its support to the International Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. With the Trident nuclear submarines just a few miles from Paisley and the Renfrewshire district, councillors are fully aware of the real risks of nuclear weapons. On a regular basis, road convoys take nuclear weapons through our district, which we have consistently opposed. Through NFLA, Mayors for Peace and ICAN we must work together to encourage states to sign and ratify this Treaty, and follow the example of Councils like Renfrewshire who see the true benefit of multilateral nuclear disarmament.”
The full text of the motion is:
Renfrewshire Council is an active member of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities Scotland Forum, and a member of the Hiroshima-led Mayors for Peace; both of which have been working for over 3 decades to promote multilateral nuclear disarmament.
NFLA and Mayors for Peace work with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its work in encouraging over two thirds of United Nations members to agree to the International Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Council regrets that the Governments of the existing nuclear weapon states, including the UK, refuse to support the Treaty. Council fully supports the TPNW as one of the most effective ways to bring about long-term and verifiable multilateral nuclear disarmament.
Council calls on the United Kingdom Government to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by:
• Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;
• Cancelling the plan to replace its entire Trident nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons;
• Actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals by supporting the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons and the ‘Good Faith’ Protocols within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Council will ask the Chief Executive to write to the UK Government to inform them of this resolution and urge them to take account of it.
