CND NEWS

In this email: 

• A dangerous return to nuclear testing
• Britain’s F-35 blank cheque scandal
• Building the alterantives at CND conference

Donald Trump’s announcement last week that he wants the US to resume nuclear testing is a wake-up call for us all. Whilst the administration later stated there are no plans ‘for now’ to re-start explosive, underground testing, Trump has wanted to start these explosive tests since his first term in office. In response, Vladimir Putin has asked officials to prepare proposals for the possible resumption of their own nuclear testing.

All this comes as both countries continue to carry out flight tests of unarmed nuclear-capable missiles. However, an overturning of a 30-year moratorium on explosive nuclear testing would leave non-proliferation and arms control in tatters and put us firmly in a new nuclear arms race.

Commenting on these developments, CND General Secretary Read Sophie’s article

British nuclear expansion – chaos and spiralling costs 
 
In June at the NATO summit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced – without any parliamentary debate – that Britain would be expanding its nuclear capability with nuclear-capable fighter jets that would be part of NATO’s nuclear mission. Yet a government watchdog report reveals that when this announcement was made the MoD had little understanding of how it could deliver the programme or how much it would cost.

The damning report from the Public Accounts Committee also shows that the MoD had repeatedly underestimated or failed to even calculate the costs of the Britain’s F35 fighter jets programme. This yet again highlights the MoD’s ‘blank cheque’ approach to nuclear weapons that we’ve seen with the huge cost over-runs for the replacement of Britain’s nuclear submarines.

You can read more about the scandal on the CND website and make sure to Read more

Building the campaign against nuclear expansion 

News of the F-35 budget scandal comes ahead of our conference, Stop British nuclear expansion: how to reverse the government’s war drive, on Saturday, 22 November. We are happy to announce the first trance of plenaries, workshops, and speakers, with more to come! Make sure to book your space and help us spread the word about the sessions mentioned below on social media.

International Challenges with:

Jeremy Corbyn MP, CND Vice-President; Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, Tricontinental Institute of Global Research; Ludo de Brabander, writes and spokesperson from Belgian peace organisation Vrede; Shabby Dhalu, Stand Up To Racism Co-Convenor; Ben Jamal, Executive Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Promote the panel on social media: X; Bluesky; Threads; Instagram; Facebook

Understanding British Nuclear Expansion with:

Okopi Ajonye, Research Manager at the Nuclear Information Service; Dr Rebecca Johnson, ICAN UK; Dave Cullen, Policy Fellow at BASIC; Dr Louise Arimatsu, London School of Economics, and one of the writers of CND’s recent legal opinion on Britain’s F-35A purchase.

Promote the panel on social media: Bluesky; Threads; Instagram; Facebook

Challenging Militarism in Education with:

Jinsella Kennaway, CEO at Demilitarise Education; Barnaby Swonnell, university demilitarisation activist working with Yorkshire CND and local campaigners to oppose Sheffield University’s involvement in the development of next-generation nuclear warheads; Stella Swain, Palestine Solidarity Campaign Youth and Student Campaigns Officer and Helen Griffin, CND Peace Education Officer.

Promote the panel on social media: X; Bluesky; Threads; Instagram; Facebook

Shutting Down Military Bases with:

Kirsten Bayes, Outreach Co-ordinator for Campaign Against Arms Trade; Nuvpreet Kalra, Co-ordinator for CODEPINK’s Bases Off Cyprus campaign; John McEvoy Chief Report at Declassified UK.

Promote the panel on social media: X; Bluesky; Threads; Instagram; Facebook

More to come next week!