Councillor Tanner, seconded by Councillor Rush, proposed the submitted motion as set out in the agenda and briefing note.

On being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Council resolved to adopt the following motion:

Oxford City Council has been a long-standing member of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) which has been working for over three decades to promote multilateral nuclear disarmament.

Oxford City Council is particularly concerned about the huge cost to the taxpayer of nuclear weapons, the risk posed by the regular transport of nuclear weapons on Oxfordshire’s roads and the continuing threat of nuclear war.

NFLA has worked with Mayors for Peace and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to promote the International Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Over two thirds (122) of United Nations member states have agreed the TPNW.

Council regrets that the Governments of the existing nuclear weapon states, including the UK, refuse to support the Treaty. Council fully supports the TPNW as one of the most effective ways to bring about long-term and verifiable multilateral nuclear disarmament.

Oxford City Council calls on the United Kingdom Government to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by:

·       Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;

·       Cancelling the programme to replace its entire Trident nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons;

·       Actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to reduce and then eliminate their nuclear arsenals by supporting both the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons and the ‘Good Faith’ Protocols within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Oxford City Council asks the Chief Executive of the Council to write to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the incoming UK Government and Oxford’s newly elected MPs to inform them of this resolution and urge them to take appropriate action.