Nuclear weapons policy: the zero option

KW
30 Aug 2016

Members of the Nuclear Weapons Working Group are presenting their personal views as part of a wider consultation process into the party's future policy on nuclear weapons. The full consultation paper can be found at www.libdems.org.uk/autumn-conference-16-policypapers and the consultation window runs until 28 October. Party members are invited to attend the consultation session at party conference in Brighton, to be held on Saturday 17 September at 1pm in the Balmoral Room of the Hilton.

1945, August 6, 8.15am. Slicing through the clear blue sky, a previously unknown "absolute evil" is unleashed on Hiroshima instantly searing the entire city, Koreans, Chinese, Southeast Asians, American prisoners of war, children, the elderly and other innocent people are slaughtered. By the end of the year 140,000 are dead.

Witness, a boy of 17: "Charred corpses blocked the road. An eerie stench filled my nose. A sea of fire spread as far as I could see. Hiroshima was a living hell

Witness, a girl of 18: "I was covered in blood. Around me were people with skin flayed from their backs hanging all the way to their feet - crying, screaming, begging for water".

- Taken from the Peace declaration of the City of Hiroshima's Mayor.

Never again must something like this happen. Yet those who have stuck rigidly to a policy of multilateral disarmament have not been successful in bringing about the nuclear-free world they profess to seek, and they show little sign of doing so.

It is my contention that British possession of nuclear weapons is immoral and that the UK should be leading by example in scrapping Trident and not replacing it with nuclear alternatives.
Nothing I have heard or read during the meetings of the Nuclear Weapons Policy Working Group has convinced me otherwise.

Britain has only 1% of the world's nuclear weapons, yet our government pretends it is one of the big boys in the nuclear playground and that our nuclear weapons give us some sort of special leverage.

The evidence to back that claim is not convincing.

I recall the former Chief of Defence Staff Lord Carver asking the question "Trident? What the bloody hell is it for?"

Tim Farron and others have referred to it as "a relic of the cold war". So why on Earth are we even considering the possibility of spending, maybe, up to £200billion on it in future?

The savings from moving to a part-time fleet, the party's current policy, are said to be not that significant in the scheme of things.

Former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo said Trident is "completely past its sell by date", and he is right.

With new technologies becoming available, Trident is increasingly likely to become vulnerable to cyber-attacks and drones, making it even more of a white elephant.

Of the five options suggested in the Nuclear Weapons Policy Consultation Paper, two relate to Trident and one relates to free-fall nuclear bombs (which to my mind conjures up images from the Doctor Strangelove movie). The aircraft and the bombs they would carry are vulnerable to being "taken-out" before reaching their target. The paper notes: "in all likelihood there would not be significant savings because of the cost of developing a new platform".

Of the remaining two options, one is "Virtual Capability". There are questions as to whether there would be sufficient warning of need to move to production and operational training. Such a policy could also send wrong signals at a time of international tension in the future.

Which leaves us with just one option "The Zero Option" of cancelling the Successor submarine programme and retiring the existing Vanguard fleet.

It is the option that I recommend. The time has come for Liberal Democrats to lead the way. Let's do it.

* Kevin White is a Joint Administrator of LibDems Against Trident. He was Chair of Liberal CND & Peace Group during the early 80's and a member of the pre-merger Liberal Party's Defence & Disarmament Panel. He stood for Parliament on four occasions and was a Councillor for eight years on Windsor & Maidenhead BC. Most recently he was Chair of Liverpool Liberal Democrats.

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