Church welcomes Prime Minister's commitment to nuclear disarmament

The Methodist Church has welcomed news that Gordon Brown haspledged to consider cutting Britain's nuclear arsenal. The PrimeMinister made the pledge yesterday as he announced that Britainwould be at the forefront of the move towards a multilateral dealon nuclear disarmament.

In response to the news that Britain will be hosting a conferenceof recognised nuclear weapons states, Policy Adviser SteveHucklesby said; "We welcome the Prime Minister's intention tonegotiate a road map to disarmament by all nuclear states.

"Russia and the US have between them hundreds of tonnes ofweapons-grade uranium in their nuclear arsenals. In comparison, theUK nuclear weapons system is tiny and the possibility of reducingthis further is welcome. However, the only offer that other nuclearstates are likely to note is a complete decommissioning of all UKnuclear weapons. This would save the UK over £20 billion ininvestment on new nuclear submarines, an investment that simplydoes not make sense in a time of economic crisis.

"Nuclear powers must show that they are committed to thedecommissioning of all nuclear weapons. This move is vital forglobal security. Only then will we be able to dissuade non-nuclearstates from joining the nuclear weapons club."