Government and Military

Dear Tony Blair,

We are writing to draw your attention to the authoritative legal opinion from Matrix Chambers (copy enclosed) which argues that if Britain renews the Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) with the United States we will be in breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

With 188 parties, we believe the NPT to be a fundamentally important legal instrument for nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament - you yourself have called it the cornerstone of the nonproliferation regime. At a time when the nonproliferation regime is under threat from the announced withdrawal of North Korea and the revelations of clandestine nuclear programmes conducted by Iran, South Korea and Libya, you need to be doing everything in your power to strengthen the treaty. The last thing Britain and the United States should be contemplating is the renewal of a cold war nuclear cooperation pact. To do so would not only breach the NPT, but would also signal your cynicism about nuclear nonproliferation, and so further undermine the efforts of most of the rest of the world to reduce nuclear threats worldwide.

The sole purpose of the MDA is to enable Britain to stay in the nuclear weapons business. This itself is contrary to our obligations under the NPT. In 2000, your government played a positive part in negotiating the Thirteen Step plan of action, in which, among other things you committed to an "unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament". The legal opinion establishes that consensus agreements like this from the Review Conferences are legally binding as they are a "source of interpretation of the obligations of the NPT", and it concludes that the MDA contravenes the essential object and purposes of the NPT. Renewing the MDA and breaching the NPT would entitle "(a) the other parties by unanimous agreement to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either: (i) in the relations between themselves and the defaulting State, or (ii) as between all the parties." (paragraph 49) It is unthinkable that any British government would want to undermine the NPT and put our security at such risk. As the Matrix legal opinion says, "performance and compliance are what is required, not termination of the [NPT] either as between all parties or between other parties and the UK." (para 49)

If Britain mothballed the Trident nuclear weapon system and pledged not to replace it - decisions we should have taken in 2000 in accordance with our NPT obligations - there would be no pressure to renew the MDA. Any use of these nuclear weapons would violate international law. Now we find out that Britain’s reliance on the United States for Trident missiles and other kinds of technology and for assistance to keep it going are causing you to risk putting Britain in the dangerous position of jeopardising one of the world’s most important security treaties. It is therefore not surprising that over 40 Labour MPs have signed Early Day Motion (EDM) 1407, raising concerns about the MDA and calling for a parliamentary debate in advance of any decision to ratify the renewal of what is in essence an amended cold war nuclear pact.

We call on you to put the NPT first and refuse to ratify the MDA renewal. In the face of other threats to nuclear nonproliferation, Britain and the United States must be seen to uphold the law and fully comply with and implement the NPT in all its aspects.

In peace,

Angie Zelter for Trident Ploughshares

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