UK Government slaps down Ian Murray over UN nuclear weapons summit

The Scottish Secretary is one of a handful of Labour MPs to have signed a pledge to work towards worldwide nuclear disarmament, which was drawn up by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and also backed by almost all SNP parliamentarians.

In 2017, ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) – and a summit of nations who support it is being held at the UN in New York this week.

READ MORE: I'm at the UN summit on nuclear weapons. This is what I learned on day one

In February, Murray shocked Scottish anti-nuclear campaigners after promising to lobby his own Government on the TPNW, pushing for the UK to attend the UN meeting as an observer state.

As a nuclear power, the UK has historically opposed the TPNW – but Murray said that observing the summit would be “a constructive step forward”.

“Not only would this position acknowledge the legitimacy and importance of the TPNW in the broader disarmament dialogue, but it would also affirm the UK's ability to engage with international norms and aspirations constructively,” the Scottish Secretary said.

However, asked if the Labour Government would be listening to the Scottish Secretary, a Foreign Office spokesperson dismissed his calls out of hand.

Scottish Secretary Ian Murray backs the TPNW"The UK’s position on the UN's Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons remains clear. We will not sign or ratify the treaty, nor will the Government send observers to the Meeting of States Parties,” they said.

Taraem Taukaro is attending the UN summit representing Christmas Island – or Kiritimati – and its residents who suffer health issues, like her mother who has cancer, as a result of UK and US nuclear testing.

She told The National that the UK’s refusal to engage even as an observer was “sad”, because islanders were trying to convey a message to the Labour Government.

Taukaro said islanders were calling “for justice, for compensation, and medical checkups, but they seem not too bothered”.

Taraem Taukaro speaking at the TPNW summit (Image: ICAN/Darren Ornitz) SNP MSP Bill Kidd, who is both the convener of Holyrood’s cross party group on nuclear disarmament and co-president of the global group Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), said Murray was “absolutely right, but the fact is he's been ignored”.

Kidd, who is attending the UN summit, went on: “The fact is [the UK Government] should be here.

“People are listening to each other and they're talking to each other sensibly. I think everybody should take part in that kind of politics – not do the sort of Donald Trump to Zelenskyy type of thing, start arguments for nothing.”

On Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that John Swinney and the SNP’s calls for nuclear weapon funding to instead be spent on conventional defence was “wrong-headed” – and said that it is currently more important than ever to support nuclear weaponry.

Responding, Kidd suggested the Labour leader’s comments were “purely political nonsense”.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer's 'ludicrous' nuclear weapons claim slammed by ICAN chief

“Talking about making another bunch of nuclear weapons, rather than spending the money on legitimate, I believe, conventional armed forces doesn't make any sense whatsoever,” the SNP MSP went on.

“And having a go at John Swinney simply because it's John Swinney isn't the right way to go.

“[Starmer] should actually listen because it makes a lot of sense, unless you're actually talking about using nuclear weapons – and they better not be.

“They are actually talking about armed forces and working together and Europe standing together. How are they going to stand together unless they've actually got the people in position to do that?

“So you need to spend extra money on armed forces if you're going to spend it on any kind of defence at all.”

At the UN summit, wider questions have been asked of why nuclear states such as the UK, or countries affected by nuclear weapons such as Japan, have not attended as observers.

Elizabeth May, the co-leader of Canadian Greens, said that many governments were “unacceptably AWOL”.

Speaking to a press briefing, May said that while she had been pleased to see some countries come forward as observers, “we can no longer accept a glacial pace”.

Akan Rakhmetullin, the deputy first foreign minister of Kazakhstan serving as the president of the TPNW summit, told a separate briefing that attending as an observer state would give “quite a strong signal to the entire international community that this country is not positioning itself apart from this process, but it's on the way to understand what's going on, to increase its awareness, and to and maybe learn some lessons”.

“Then, at some certain stage, it may become the turning point for them to change their minds,” the diplomat said.

Melissa Parke and Akan Rakhmetullin photographed at the TPNW meeting (Image: ICAN/Darren Ornitz)Speaking alongside the Kazakh minister, Melissa Parke, ICAN’s chief executive, added: “This treaty is an investment in multilateralism and international law at a time when these things are increasingly under threat.

“It's important for countries, even if they're not ready to sign the treaty, that they come along and be part of that process and support that process.”

Parke said that “observing is a useful and it's an important aspect”, adding: “But ultimately, we want every country to join this treaty, to join with the global majority – because the countries that don't have nuclear weapons and don't want nuclear weapons, don't want anything to do with them, is the global majority.

“It's a very small minority of countries who are holding the rest of the world hostage, in effect, with weapons of not just mass destruction but total destruction.

“So we urge countries that are not yet observing, to please observe.”