CND protest at RAF Lakenheath, 20 September

Christine Shawcroft calls for support for CND’s demonstration in opposition to Trump’s nukes in Britain, arguing we are no longer a sovereign state. Britain looks more and more like a puppet of the United States. Never forget, she warns, from Washington, no one can hear you scream.


A national demonstration outside ‘RAF’ Lakenheath in Suffolk has been called for Saturday, 20th September, against the suspected deployment of US nuclear weapons – Trump’s nukes! Actually, the title ‘USAF’ would be a more suitable name for the base, as it is run by the US Air Force and, at the moment, only hosts USAF units and personnel.

Our own government attempts to keep activities at the base shrouded in secrecy, and we only found out about the US government’s plans when campaigners saw a US Department of Defence document which included the UK on a list of nuclear weapons storage locations in Europe.

Since then, observers in July tracked a transport plane flying from the US main nuclear storage site in New Mexico to the Suffolk base, and it is believed that B61-12 nuclear bombs have now been deployed at Lakenheath. This is the first time US nukes have been stationed here since 2008. The base had previously hosted US nuclear weapons for more than 50 years, starting in 1954. Not only does the return of US weapons of mass destruction to British soil ramp up international tensions and make south east England into a target in the event of the war with Russia on which NATO seems so keen, the local community is also in danger from the risk of accidents involving the nukes.

Lakenheath has previous on this. In 1956 a B-47 bomber on a routine training mission crashed into a nuclear weapons store, killing four servicemen. Both the US and British governments tried to cover it up, but official US documents were eventually found which stated that it was a ‘miracle’ that none of the bombs exploded, and that part of eastern England could have become ‘a desert’. In 1961, a plane with a nuclear bomb on board caught fire. The bomb itself was scorched by fire, and scientific investigators found that it could easily have detonated. And those are just two accidents that we have found out about, as the governments concerned admitted them – but only in 1979 and 2003, respectively.

There may have been other serious incidents which have yet to come to light, and even more worryingly, CND has discovered that US forces have been given a blanket exemption from major safety regulations when operating in the UK. They are not legally bound to have plans to deal with emergencies involving radioactive material and nuclear weapons. Yet there are several population centres in the region which could be put in deadly danger by any accidental leaks of radiation, not to mention the risks of larger nuclear accidents.

Over 60% of British people are opposed to US nuclear weapons returning to British bases. A government which puts out documents stating that their main objective is the safety of the population and ‘national security’ should be expected to come clean about what is happening. Unfortunately, our government prefers secrecy and will neither confirm nor deny developments when campaigners attempt to shed light on the risks they are running. Needless to say there has been no debate in Parliament, and certainly no vote.

It is the definition of a sovereign country that it should have an independent foreign policy. By this measure, Britain is no longer a sovereign state and looks more and more like a puppet of the United States. Never forget – from Washington, no one can hear you scream.

* You can find information about the demonstration, including transport arrangements here.
* This article was first published in Labour Outlook

Lakenheath blockade breaks the silence on US nukes returning to Britain

Carol Turner reports on a successful blockade of Lakenheath airbase

Despite government silence, news that US nuclear weapons are returning to Britain is at last beginning to get through. CND members from across the country gathered at the main gate of Lakenheath airbase to join a blockade which marked the end of a successful two-week peace camp, organised by the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace (LAP) coalition.

Lakenheath, in the heart of the Suffolk countryside, has the biggest presence of US military forces in Britain – exposing its less than honest claim to be an RAF base. Lakenheath hosts the US Airforce 48th Fighter Wing, tasked with providing ‘worldwide responsive combat airpower and support’ which is ‘capable of dominating any adversary’.

Palestinians are among the so-called adversaries the US forces based there are currently helping to ‘dominate’. F35 bombers fly from Lakenheath, in support of Israel’s attacks on the Occupied territories.

LAP activities during the April peace camp included a War Crimes and Genocide Day highlighting the complicity of the US, UK, and NATO in Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza. Past attacks from Lakenheath include Libya in 1986 and combat missions against Afghanistan from 2001 and Iraq in 2023. Other peace camp activity days included an international conference attended by guests from across Europe and beyond, and a Greenham Women day. 

Around 250 people took part in the blockade on Saturday 26 April, including two CND coaches from London. An impressive list of banners. I recall seeing them from Wales, York, Plymouth, Quakers, London Peace Pagoda – including nearby Norwich and Cambridge.

Fine weather and a carnival atmosphere notwithstanding, there were seven arrests from among those who chose not to heed the police call to disperse at the end of the afternoon.

CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said nuclear weapons don’t make us safer, they make us a target. She expressed solidarity with those arrested after the successful three-hour shut down of the main entrance to the base. ‘Rather than arresting people for peacefully protesting the return of US nuclear weapons to Britain,’ Sophie said, ‘the clear violations of international law facilitated by the British government should be investigated.’

  • CND’s press release on the blockade
  • Labour CND’s model motion on Lakenheath
  • Visit CND for more information and what you can do.
  • Lakenheath Alliance for Peace is a coalition of local, national, and international groups dedicated to preventing the return of US nuclear weapons to Lakenheath. LAP holds monthly vigils at the base.

This article first appeared in Labour Outlook

Motion for Labour conference

Benners decorating the fence at Lakenheath air base during CND’s first protest

Labour CND’s suggested motion for this year’s annual party conference opposes the return of US nuclear weapns to Britain. It notes that US nukes left Lakenheath in 2008 which was consistent with the then Labour Government’s ambition for a ‘global zero’ eradication of nuclear weapons through multilateral disarmament, and recommits Labour to nuclear disarmament and a world without nuclear weapons. We urge you to ask your local Labour Party to adopt this as policy and put it forward for conference.

We don’t want US nukes! Join CND at Lakenheath on 21 May

Since we learned that US nukes are coming back to Britain, CND has been busy organising a protest at RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk – RAF in name only, run by the US Air Force. Transport is bringing protestors from around the country – Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester, East Midlands, London.

Visit CND for details, or London CND to book a seat from London to Lakenheath

Read about what’s on our doorstep here
Get more details about what’s in the offing here
Sign up to Labour CND’s newletter to stay in touch


Stop US nukes coming to Lakenheath

As news that US nuclear weapons are coming to Britain again begins to spread, CND has organised our first protest at RAF/USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. With the cooperation of local CND groups, the Stop UK nukes coming to Lakenheath protest takes place outside the base on Saturday 21 May, 13.00 to 15.00. CND groups across the country are already mobilising.

The United States is the only country that sites its nuclear weapons outside its own territory. The return of US nukes to Britain will increase global tensions and put the UK on the front line of a Nato/Russia war.

What’s happening at Lakenheath is part of an upgrade of US/Nato nuclear facilities across Europe. Increasing Nato’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilising and further undermines the prospects of international peace.

It’s vital that we build the biggest opposition to siting US nuclear weapons in Britain. It means spreading the word across the labour movement, and that’s  up to us all.

Labour CND will play our part in keeping you up to scratch with developments in the weeks and months ahead.

Read Are US nuclear weapons coming to Britain again? and stay in touch for more reports.
Join Labour CND’s mailing list here

Are US nuclear weapons coming to Britain again?

Labour CND Chair Carol Turner’s blog on the Ukraine crisis launches with the announcement that the UK is about to become the sixth European Nato member to host American nuclear weapons. Keep tuned in for updates

The world is closer to nuclear war than we’ve been for decades, closer perhaps than ever before. Strained relations between Russia and the US over Nato’s eastward expansion touched boiling point at the end of February, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was followed by the announcement that Russian nukes were being moved to special alert.

What’s needed is cool council, encouragement to de-escalate the war and negotiate a stable end to this dangerous conflict. Instead, the belligerent rhetoric of the US, Britain and other European Nato members adds weight to the emerging view that Nato would welcome a long and protracted war in order to exhaust Russia – and consequences for the people of Ukraine be damned.

Against this looming possibility of nuclear war, a report by Hans Kristensen, Nuclear Information Project Director at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) gives cause for us to be very afraid. The UK, he says, is set to become the sixth European Nato member to host American nuclear weapons on our territory.

Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Turkey already have US nuclear weapons stationed within their borders. FAS estimates around 100 US nuclear bombs are deployed in these five countries.

US Department of Defence (DoD) documents suggest the UK has been added to the list of nuclear weapons storage locations. Kristensen believes RAF Lakenheath, 80 miles northeast of London, is likely to be that facility. In the past, Lakenheath was used to store US Air Force (USAF) nuclear gravity bombs. The facilities to do so are still intact.

This analysis by FAS comes as Lakenheath is getting ready to become the first USAF base in Europe equipped with the latest generation of nuclear-capable fighter-bomber aircraft. The first of the F-35As arrived at Lakenheath in December last year; the US is due to begin training in the next 12 months.

Kristensen points out there is no public indication from Nato yet that it intends to store nuclear bombs in Lakenheath. He speculates that its upgrade ‘could potentially be intended to increase the flexibility of the existing nuclear deployment within Europe, without increasing the number of weapons’. In other words, with a war with Russia in the offing, Lakenheath could receive nuclear weapons from existing European Nato locations to ‘better realign the overall nuclear posture in Europe’.

Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball, however, told the Guardian he saw the upgrade of the UK storage facilities as: ‘an early sign that the US and Nato are preparing to engage in a protracted and maybe heightened standoff with Putin’s Russia.’

Meanwhile, the British government is working hand in glove with Nato and the US on Ukraine. Prime Minister Johnson’s recent announcement of increased military assistance to President Zelensky, including supplying offensive weaponry, is fanning the flames of a war that could stretch across Europe and beyond.

Keeping the people of Britain safe should be foremost amongst the UK government’s concerns. Creating the conditions for siting American nuclear weapons in Britain is tantamount to painting a target on the back of everyone in the UK.

This Tory government could and should be playing a supportive role in negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict, not helping escalate it. And Labour should be demanding it do so from across the opposition benches, not trailing in Johnson’s wake.

Read Hans Kristensen full report, Lakenheath Air Base Added To Nuclear Weapons Storage Site Upgrades, 11 April 2022 here
See Julian Borger and Sam Sabbagh, UK military vaults upgraded to store new US nuclear weapons, Guardian 12 April 2022 here