US nuclear weapons 'leave British soil at last' after half a century of controversy

They spoke out after a watchdog said Washington had removed a stockpile of 110 B-61 bombs from the RAF base at Lakenheath, Suffolk.

American nuclear weapons have been stationed in Britain since 1954.

Each B-61 has the potential to destroy an entire city. Their maximum yield is 340 kilotons of TNT – compared to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima which yielded 16 kilotons.

Both the Ministry of Defence and the Pentagon declined to comment yesterday, on the grounds that Nato policies prevent them from confirming or denying the whereabouts of nuclear weapons.

However, the report's author, nuclear weapons expert Hans Kristensen, of the Federation of American Scientists, said sources had confirmed that the removal had happened in the past few years.

If true, it means US nuclear bombs in Europe are now kept at just six bases, in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy and Turkey, with most at Incirlik air base in Turkey and Aviano in Italy.

Defence analysts as well as peace campaigners believe the removal of nuclear weapons from three bases in two Nato countries in less than a decade undercuts the argument for continuing deployment in other European countries.

They say the removal from Lakenheath could be part of a general strategic shift since the end of the Cold War, following the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Ramstein Air Base in Germany in 2005 and Greece in 2001.

Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Scotsman: "On the assumption this report is true, it reflects both a realisation that the tactical nuclear weapons serve little military purpose and that the arrangements for ensuring their safe storage have been under review.

"But there is a broader political context to the United States' nuclear weapons sited in Europe. If they are withdrawing from the UK, it might lead to withdrawal from elsewhere."

CND chairwoman Kate Hudson said: "There is no official confirmation yet but obviously we are very pleased.

"We have been campaigning for over 50 years to get rid of American nuclear weapons from Britain.

"We plan to build on this momentum. I hope it represents a shift in government thinking both here and in the US. It is marvellous news and could encourage the disarmament process across the world, potentially defusing tension with Russia about missile defence."

However, observers admit to being puzzled that Washington and Nato have shrouded the withdrawal of weapons from Britain in secrecy at a time when they are arguing with Russia over weapons cuts.

Ms Hudson added: "It is a shame, because if it is a shift in policy, it's a good thing and they should be trumpeting it."

Mell Harrison, eastern regional campaigner for CND, lives under one of the Lakenheath flight-paths and has infiltrated the base during previous protests.

The activist said she had been hearing about the bomb removal for weeks.

She said: "Rumours have been flying about that this has been happening very slowly.

"There has been work happening inside the base for about that period of time. There has also been quite a lot of flight movements.

"We have had clusters of planes coming over for a couple of days at a time.

"And they had a couple of operations to practise contingency plans for what would happen if a plane carrying one of the B-61s crashed. I want to know how they moved the bombs, and if they have been flying them over our heads without us knowing."

The news also led to renewed calls for Trident to be scrapped north of the Border.

The Reverend Ian Galloway, convener of the Church of Scotland's church and society council, said: "We continue to call upon HM government to pursue a policy of full disarmament including non-renewal of Trident."

John Ainslie, co-ordinator of Scottish CND, warned that interceptor missiles could be installed at Lakenheath as part of the US missile defence system.

Veteran campaigner welcomes 'progressive move'

THE presence of nuclear weapons has made the US base at Lakenheath a target for British anti-nuclear protesters for decades.

Dr Rebecca Johnson lived at Greenham Common women's camp for five years during the 1980s.

A major player in the protest against cruise missiles being sited at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, which lasted throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she became the media spokeswoman for the activists who based themselves there.

Dr Johnson, who lives in Helensburgh and went on to become a senior adviser for Hans Blix, the UN's former monitor for weapons of mass destruction, is now director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy.

She told The Scotsman: "This reported removal of the Lakenheath nuclear weapons means the only nuclear weapon in this country now is the Trident system at Faslane, which is something to be welcomed.

"I believe this is a political decision taken by Washington because they have had to acknowledge that they do not need the nuclear weapons for security.

"I think it is a very progressive move."

She added: "We have been pushing for this since the Cold War ended; we have been calling for a new Nato security concept to reflect the different role that Nato has in the world these days.

"Nato's role now is all about peacekeeping and in that context nuclear weapons are simply an anachronism left over from the Cold War.

"The B-61s are relatively small bombs, fairly portable, and can only really be used in a military role as they are designed to be dropped from planes.

"Each of them is several times larger than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"It seems ironic to call them 'tactical' when each of them could devastate a whole city."

Dr Johnson added: "The UK's decision to renew Trident violates the terms of its own non-proliferation treaty commitments.

"It is absolutely absurd that the government is planning to spend billions on a weapons system that they have to guard and cannot use at a time when they are involved in two wars."

At the height of the Cold War, the United States had more than 7,000 nuclear weapons in Europe.

The first nuclear bombs arrived in Britain in September 1954.

Most were withdrawn in the early 1990s, and today the Federation of American Scientists estimates the number of American weapons at fewer than 240 in Europe as a whole.