OPINION:
The United Kingdom has not ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), passed by the U.N. General Assembly in 2017. In fact, the U.K. even boycotted the negotiations leading to the creation of the treaty. However, the U.K. has ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The reason for this seeming ambiguity is that the TPNW is a more far-ranging agreement than the NPT. Among other things, the TPNW prohibits even the stockpiling of nuclear weapons. The NPT mostly focuses on preventing other states from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Therefore, the U.K. wants to maintain the status quo of keeping its nuclear weapons but making sure other states stay non-nuclear. To me that’s not a very principled stand. It’s more self-serving than anything. U.K. citizens need to ask themselves why the U.K. is spending billions on renewing Trident, the U.K.’s nuclear-weapons system, when hundreds of Islamic State fighters are returning from abroad and walking freely back into the U.K., no questions asked.
LOUIS SHAWCROSS
Hillsborough, County Down
Northern Ireland
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