The United Kingdom is one of only eight countries in the world with nuclear weapons. UK annual spending on such weapons is £7.2bn, the third highest in the world after the US ($35.4bn) and China ($10.4bn). This staggering figure is also increasing due to the decision in 2016 to replace the UK’s current Trident missile system, with new submarines and missiles capable of delivering US nuclear warheads (which the UK leases). The new system is scheduled to be fully delivered by 2032 and operational at least until the 2060s.
What makes this particularly problematic is that the majority of nation states are opposed to the existence of nuclear weapons and have been actively organising for their abolition. This Friday the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force, making the stockpiling, testing and use of nuclear weapons illegal under international law.
We will be using the passing of the treaty to highlight the opportunity cost of increased spending on weapons of mass destruction, particularly during a time of pandemic and economic turmoil. To bring our message to a wider audience, we’re coordinating with ICAN partners in the UK to create a Twitterstorm (an attempt to get a topic trending, so it reaches more people outside our usual networks).
- At 11am-1.30pm on 22nd January we’ll introduce the new #NukesOutUK hashtag which we will try to get trending via 2.5 hours of intensive activity. This can be used in combination with #nuclearban, which ICAN groups internationally will be using throughout the day.
- Twitters guidance is that ‘One to two relevant hashtags per Tweet is the sweet spot’. Please tweet your own message of support during this time and retweet others’ messages as widely as possible.
- It is important that we do not use the #NukesOutUK in advance of 11am on the 22nd January – this is because Twitter looks for ‘hot topics’ and favours novel hashtags that have not previously appeared.
- The graphics we’ll be using on the day are shared below.
