Agenda item

To consider the motion on notice received from Councillor Bannon and seconded by Councillors Dant, Frea, Parr and Wood.

The full motion, complete with an officer briefing note, is set out in the agenda papers.

Councillor Bannon had submitted a motion on notice to the Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15. The motion, which is shown below, had been included with the agenda papers, accompanied by a briefing note from officers.

"Lancaster City Council is deeply concerned about the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world. We firmly believe that our residents have the right to live in a world free from this threat. Any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or accidental, would have catastrophic, far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for people and the environment.

Lancaster City Council therefore resolves to:

·       Warmly welcome the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by the United Nations in 2017

·       Call on our national government to ratify the treaty

Action

That the Chief Executive:

·       Writes to the UK government – Secretaries of State for 1) Defence and 2) Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - to inform them that Lancaster City Council has endorsed the ICAN Cities Appeal to call for our Government to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  

·       Informs our residents and media about our support of the ICAN Cities Appeal, and informs ICAN by emailing them at info@icanw.org

·       Takes steps to ensure that funds administered by Lancaster City Council are not invested in companies that produce nuclear weapons. See www.dontbankonthebomb.com.”

However, earlier in the day, Councillor Bannon had, with the agreement of her seconder, requested to alter her motion slightly. The alteration was in the form of adding words to the last bullet point of the motion, as follows (change italicised):-

·       “Takes reasonable steps to ensure that when investments are made or reviewed, funds administered by Lancaster City Council are not invested in companies that produce nuclear weapons.”

The Mayor asked Councillors if they would agree to allow Councillor Bannon to alter her motion. There were no indications that any Councillor would vote against this, therefore agreement of the meeting was signified without discussion, in line with Council Procedure Rule 17.7 (a).

Councillor Bannon then moved her altered motion, seconded by Councillor Wood.

There were a number of questions from Councillors which Councillor Bannon responded to. Officers pointed out that further information would be required on the extent of bullet point (3) to estimate the work required, as this could be extensive.

A lengthy debate about the motion followed, with many Councillors speaking both for and against. Councillor Whitehead proposed an amendment to revise the wording of bullet point (3) to allow further work by officers to estimate the effect on resources and asked if this would be accepted as a friendly amendment. Councillor Bannon said she would be willing to discard bullet point three altogether if this were permissible. In view of this, Councillor Whitehead put forward an amendment to discard bullet point three from the motion. Councillor Bannon and her seconder accepted this as a friendly amendment.

At the conclusion of the debate a roll call vote was taken. With 28 Councillors voting for, 13 against and 11 abstentions, the motion was carried.

Resolved:-

That Lancaster City Council:

(1)               Warmly welcomes the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by the United Nations in 2017.

(2)               Calls on our national government to ratify the treaty; and

That the Chief Executive:

(3)            Writes to the UK government – Secretaries of State for a) Defence and b) Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - to inform them that Lancaster City Council has endorsed the ICAN Cities Appeal to call for our Government to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  

(4)            Informs our residents and media about our support of the ICAN Cities Appeal, and informs ICAN by emailing them at info@icanw.org