CND has today welcomed Labour’s decision to urge the Government to attend the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons.
CND’s General Secretary, Kate Hudson, said:
‘It is very welcome that the Labour frontbench is urging the Government to attend the Vienna conference in December.
‘So far the UK government has boycotted significant discussions on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons which have involved the overwhelming majority of states in two major conferences over the past 18 months.
‘Now the US has agreed to attend the Vienna conference – the next in this important series – and a cross-party coalition of Douglas Alexander, Nick Harvey and Angus Robertson are calling on the UK to send a representative too. So pressure is mounting for the government to end its boycott and explain its damaging isolation.
‘The UK must attend the Vienna conference and face the facts about the catastrophe that humanity would face if a UK Trident warhead were ever detonated. It is vital that the UK engages in this global discussion before the decision is taken on replacing Trident – this is a matter of concern for the entire global community.’