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BASIC PRESS RELEASEWEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY 2004 - FOR IMMEDIATE USE Nuclear Collaboration and the 'Special Relationship'February's edition of the Red Pepper magazine, out this week, features a special report on Britain's 47-year secret collaboration with the United States on all aspects of nuclear weapons development. This is one of a series of articles that review 'the missile defence debate gap' in the UK. Upgrade work at Fylingdales radar station on the North Yorkshire Moors is due to start in March. Fylingdales and the Menwith Hill listening station in the Yorkshire Dales are needed for President Bush's plans for missile defence. The initial interceptor missiles are due to be in their silos in Alaska this autumn. The little heard of 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) was the outcome of discussion between US President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Macmillan in Washington in 1957. This agreement allowed the two countries to share nuclear weapon designs and fissionable materials [plutonium and high-enriched uranium] and tritium. As the Daily Telegraph reported at the time: "The immediate objective is to enable both countries to produce nuclear weapons more cheaply than hitherto, by avoiding costly duplication of productive capacity (8.5.59)." The MDA must be renewed in 2004. When it was last renewed in 1994, the Conservative Government tried to get it through by stealth in the dead of night, at the tail end of a parliamentary session before the Christmas recess. A small group of Labour MPs forced a debate and managed to get the issue on the record. BASIC has written to Peter Hain MP, as Leader of the House of Commons, asking if parliamentary time has been allocated for MPs to debate the issue. As the recent Defence White Paper indicated, a decision on whether to replace Trident will be needed in the next parliament. BASIC nuclear analyst Nigel Chamberlain said: The Prime Minister has said that the elimination of the threat of weapons of mass destruction is his top priority. He should be reminded that he has a legal obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to dismantle Britain's nuclear arsenal - currently 200 thermonuclear Trident warheads. For further information contact: Nigel Chamberlain Analyst and Press Officer ENDS
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