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Bristol’s Green MEP, Molly Scott Cato, has today thrown down a challenge to Bristol and the wider region’s sitting MPs to back a ban on Nuclear Weapons. The challenge comes after none of the regions MPs backed an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by Green Party Co-Leader, Caroline Lucas MP [1].
The EDM calls for “the Government to develop and publish an appropriate transition plan so that the UK is prepared and ready to sign and ratify the [United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons] treaty at the first opportunity.”
The EDM was submitted after the United Nations legally binding Treaty on prohibiting nuclear weapons was adopted on July 7 2017 with the support of 122 nations which also resulted in International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons being awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize [2]. The UK did not sign the UN Treaty or participate in the negotiations.
Commenting Molly Scott Cato said,
“Just this week we saw the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. I would have hoped our local MPs would have jumped on this opportunity to push the UK’s hand in taking an active role in the UN process. Instead, we have seen that when they have a chance to put their warm words into action we are met with silence. With the rising tensions with North Korea and the Trump administration, we need to unite around a strong position that looks to move to the UK towards unilateral nuclear disarmament. It’s time our MPs in the region backed this EDM and started playing a leading role in shifting our government’s position. If we don’t act now we risk alienating ourselves from the majority of the world who are taking this process seriously.”
[1] correct as of 11:59 am 13th October – http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2017-19/374
[2] http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/06/world/nobel-peace-prize/index.html