Dear all, 

Please find this week’s digest below. I will be on leave from tomorrow until after the Easter break, so there will be no email next week. Thanks for your support.

 Britain

• CND spoke exclusively to the Mirror newspaper about our uncovering of a certificate signed by former defence secretary Ben Wallace, exempting US visiting forces across Britain from adhering to British nuclear safety regulations. You can read CND’s press release here and more coverage in the Morning Star here.

• Meanwhile, the US Air Force has announced that its two squadrons of F-35s at RAF Lakenheath are near full readiness.
• A team working for Britain’s Hypersonic Weapons Programme has successfully tested an engine for a new hypersonic missile. 
• Some are calling for Britain to develop sub-strategic nuclear weapons.

Gaza

• Two arrests as activists occupy Kendal factory over Gaza links.

Iran

• Ahead of negotiations at the weekend, the BBC asks: Can Trump convince Iran to ditch its nuclear programme?

AUKUS / Asia-Pacific

• Reuters Exclusive: AUKUS nuclear submarine sale under scrutiny as Trump tariffs rattle Australia.
• Prime Minister appoints Sir Stephen Lovegrove as special representative on AUKUS.
• Adam Bandt warns AUKUS joins Australia at the hip with ‘dangerous demagogue’ Donald Trump
• Japan and NATO vow to deepen security ties to counter threats from China and Russia

NATO / Europe

• Sky News: Inside a NATO base in Poland - as residents bordering Russia say ‘scare tactic’ is needed.

• Concerns over US NATO engagement as ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meets.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The Times reports on Keir Starmer’s approval of an investment decision in Sizewell C, alongside a fleet of small modular reactors.
• That’s as Ynys Môn MP Llinos Medi criticised the UK Government for failing to advance nuclear development at the Wylfa nuclear site on the island. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday evening, the Plaid Cymru MP highlighted Ynys Môn’s long history with nuclear power, noting that the Wylfa plant has been a key part of the island’s energy infrastructure since the 1970s.
• Rats are investing Hinkley Point C and unions are urging EDF to sort the problem out.
• That’s as an employment tribunal heard that a senior manager at Hinkley Point accepted bribes, including a £11,000 quad bike, £2,000 hospitality tickets to a boxing match, and a refill for his Monte Blanc pen, in return for funnelling extra work to an engineering firm.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament