The United Nations Association – UK, the country’s foremost advocate for action at the UN, has issued a red card for Britain’s failure to live up to disarmament obligations and for its dismissive approach to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The body’s new report, the Global Britain Scorecard, explores whether the UK practices what it preaches after Theresa May pledged her support for the UN system. She has previously acknowledged its importance in addressing shared global challenges and delivering benefits to UK citizens and the wider world.
Explaining the rationale for the red card, the UNA said:
“The UK has made little progress on its disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty since the welcomed, but modest, reductions announced in 2010. Rather than working in “good faith” for a world free of nuclear weapons, Britain has failed to participate in multiple initiatives and international fora aimed at making multilateral progress on disarmament, and has failed to follow UN guidance to adopt a constructive approach to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary, said:
“We welcome the UNA’s scrutiny of government policy. It’s a national shame that the UK has rejected the nuclear ban treaty out of hand when a majority of the world’s countries are working together to eliminate nuclear weapons. The UK nominally says it supports such multilateral diplomatic efforts, but in practice it is trying to wreck the initiative.
“Theresa May’s government should be taking steps in good faith towards nuclear disarmament, but instead it has committed £205 billion to replacing Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system, and stands idly by while Donald Trump develops new ‘usable’ nuclear weapons that raise the threat of nuclear war.”