UK members of Mayors for Peace met on the 8th July in Oxford Town Hall to discuss the development of the organisation and to hold a joint seminar with the UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities on Trident replacement and UK nuclear weapons policy.
The meeting was hosted by Councillor Elise Benjamin, the Lord Mayor of Oxford and the first Green Party Mayor of this historic city. Councillor Benjamin recounted that her parents originally met at the annual CND London to Aldermaston (the home of the UK’s nuclear weapons facility) march, and she had a long-standing commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons. She noted that Oxford City Council was a proud member of both the Mayors for Peace and the Nuclear Free Local Authorities English Forum and was particularly concerned over the dangers of nuclear weapons convoy transportations, which pass through the Oxford area on their way to and from Aldermaston.
Attending the meeting were Mayors and senior councillors from Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Reading, Oxford, Hull, Rotherham and Abingdon; along with a number of national and local NGOs campaigning on the nuclear weapons issue. The morning business meeting welcomed the recent increase in UK Mayors for Peace membership with Stirling, Hull and Hastings joining in the last few weeks. The meeting endorsed a joint letter that would be organised to encourage new members to join as part of the Mayors for Peace ‘5000 Campaign’. It was felt this could be signed by the Lord Mayors / Provosts of Oxford, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds. The meeting also encouraged UK members to hold official civic ceremonies for the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb anniversaries.
The meeting agreed to reconsider voluntary invoices for UK members, coupled with the development of fund-raising events and applications to charitable trusts to develop project work. It was felt that it would be useful to choose a number of high profile UK members (Manchester, Glasgow, Coventry, possibly London and Birmingham) as political leaders of the Mayors for Peace in the UK. The hosting of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb exhibition was encouraged – it has already been hosted by Manchester, Dundee, West Dunbartonshire, Newry & Mourne and Dundalk. It would be held in Edinburgh and the Scottish Parliament, Aberdeen, Shetland Islands and Rotherham later in 2011. It was felt London would be an excellent venue for it around the opening of the 2012 Olympics. It was also noted that Glasgow were developing a permanent Mayors for Peace exhibit in its recently opened Riverside Museum.
In the afternoon, the Mayors for Peace held a joint seminar with the Nuclear Free Local Authorities English Forum. The seminar considered recent developments in a proposed upgrade and replacement for the ‘Trident’ nuclear weapons system; and the announcement of a parallel review considering all the alternatives to Trident.
Paul Ingram, Executive Director of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), outlined the work of the Trident Commission. The Commission is a cross-party grouping of former Defence and Foreign Affairs representatives which is co-chaired by former Labour Defence Minister Des Browne, former Conservative Foreign Affairs and Defence Minister Malcolm Rifkind and the former Liberal Democrat Leader and Defence Spokesman Menzies Campbell. It also contains a number of senior former military officials in the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Commission is taking evidence on the need and alternatives to Trident and will seek to report in 2013. Paul outlined the future potential policy developments in the political parties and the military and the likelihood that nuclear weapons would be a major election issue for the 2015 UK general election.
Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) followed on from this theme by explaining the work CND were undertaking at the Parliamentary level and in the ‘No Trident Replacement Coalition’, which brings together a wide collection of NGOs campaigning on the nuclear weapons issue. Kate noted the considerable public support (72%) opposing Trident replacement and the growing political and military consensus on more sustainable alternatives than maintaining Trident. CND were working closely with the Trades Union Congress to outline the alternative jobs that could be created by not replacing Trident. Two large petitions – ‘Scrap Trident’ and ‘No to Trident replacement, Yes to a Nuclear Weapons Convention’ – were also receiving large numbers of signatures.
Stephen Hendry, Researcher for the Reading-based Nuclear Information Service, provided an overview of some of the local issues around Aldermaston and Burghfield, the facilities for developing Trident missiles. Stephen outlined the content of the UK – French Defence Treaty, which is an attempt at sharing costs and expertise on nuclear weapons design and development between Europe’s two nuclear weapons states. Considerable discussion also took place about proposals by Russia to reduce the presence of nuclear weapons on European soil.
Sean Morris, UK Mayors for Peace Working Group Secretary, concluded the seminar by providing an overview of the national and international work of Mayors for Peace as local government’s voice on the nuclear weapons issue. Sean noted the huge expansion of the organisation in recent years and its effective lobbying, with like-minded groups, of a large number of national governments at the United Nations Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty talks.
The business meeting and seminar concluded with an agreement that the next meeting would be held in Manchester in February 2012.
Sean Morris
UK Mayors for Peace Secretary
13th July 2011