Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Joseph Rotblat And Nuclear Disarmament

EDM number 1462 in 1994-95, proposed by Llew Smith on 16/10/1995.

That this House offers with great pleasure its congratulations to Professor Joseph Rotblat for his award of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his half century of campaigning against nuclear weapons; notes that he was the world's first anti-nuclear weapons scientist, having resigned from the Manhattan atomic bomb project in 1944 on recognising then that the main aim of the bomb was to give the United States nuclear advantage in the Cold War, rather than to confront Nazi aggression; strongly supports the excellent work for nuclear disarmament worldwide done by the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs since its foundation in 1956 by Professor Rotblat and other nuclear scientists concerned about the deadly dangers of nuclear technology; recalls Professor Rotblat's principled opposition to THORP at Sellafield due to its proliferation risks; fully supports his and Pugwash's aims to encourage young people to question and understand the implications of new technology and scientific discoveries; thanks him for his public opposition to nuclear testing; and agrees with the conclusion of his latest study for Pugwash that Britain can and should get rid of all its nuclear weapons.

This motion has been signed by a total of 40 MPs.