UK buys nuclear-capable fighter jets from Trump

From Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament:

The announcement by the British government from the NATO summit that it will be purchasing 12 nuclear capable F35A fighter jets is yet another disastrous decision by the Starmer government, that makes the world more dangerous and puts the British population on the nuclear frontline.

The deal with US President Donald Trump means 12 nuclear-capable fighter jets – costing between $80 to $100 million each – will be stationed at RAF Marham, near Peterborough.

This decision – made without any parliamentary debate – makes it all the more likely that US B61-12 nuclear bombs will be deployed at RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk. It is also a possibility that these bombs will also be stationed at RAF Marham.

These so-called ‘tactical’ bombs are designed to be used on the battlefield. They have the destructive power to kill over 600,000 people and release toxic radiation that poisons the land and causes birth defects and generational cancers.

The millions that will be spent on these jets, and the millions more that would be needed to upgrade RAF Marham, will be coming out of further cuts to public services, to our NHS and our social care system. This has nothing to do with the security of British people and everything to do with funding Trump’s global war.

Buying Trump’s nuclear capable F35A fighter jets so that Britain can launch Trump’s B61-12 nuclear bombs at Russia will not keep us safe. On the contrary, it puts us on the frontline of any US-led war and increases the risks a nuclear confrontation.

With the devastating ongoing war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, bringing more nuclear weapons into the situation will only increase tensions and nuclear threats.

This is another disastrous decision by the Starmer government for greater nuclear rearmament. This is in direct breach of its international obligations under the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Under this Treaty it must take steps to reduce its nuclear arsenal. It is the failure of nuclear weapons states like Britain to meet their disarmament obligations which is driving the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Starmer fails to understand how strong public opposition is to US nuclear weapons being stationed in Britain. Campaigners from Greenham Common to Lakenheath have forced the US to withdraw their nuclear weapons before, and we’ll do it again.

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