Ministers urged to clarify nuclear deployment

The government is facing fresh demands to disclose whether US nuclear weapons are on British soil.

It comes as a senior American official confirmed the deployment of a new generation of bombs had been completed.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has written to the prime minister and the defence secretary to ask whether RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk is housing B61-12 munitions.

The UK and Nato have a long-standing policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location.

In a speech last week, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Jill Hruby, said "the new B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed".

She added that they had "increased Nato's visibility to our nuclear capabilities".

The NNSA is the US government agency that maintains the nuclear weapons stockpile.

The B61-12 is a thermonuclear bomb which can be carried by F-35A Lightning II aircraft, which are stationed at RAF Lakenheath.

US Department of Defense documents revealed $50m was being allocated to build new facilities at RAF Lakenheath known as "surety dormitories", which the Federation of American Scientists claimed pointed to the arrival of nuclear weapons.

Another document seen by the BBC, which has since been removed from the internet, stated there was related work at the base in preparation for its "upcoming nuclear mission".

Weapons of mass destruction were withdrawn from RAF Lakenheath in 2008.

The US and its Nato partners do not disclose figures for their European-deployed weapons but the Washington-based Center for Arms Proliferation and Control estimates there are 100 warheads stored across five countries.

In a letter to the government, CND general secretary Sophie Bolt said Ms Hruby's disclosure suggested the nuclear bombs could now be in the UK.

She said: "There has been no information presented to local communities about the new security risks that they face.

"US nuclear weapons at RAF Lakenheath will present a major threat, not only to communities near the base but to Britain as a whole, by putting us all on the US/Nato nuclear front line."

The letter added that the public "has a right to know about the risks posed by such a deployment – and the right to express their opposition to it".

In November, the US Air Force confirmed that unidentified drones had been spotted over three of its airbases in the UK, including RAF Lakenheath.

No further information has emerged as to the origin or intentions of these aircraft.

But CND said the sightings "increased risks" at the base.

Ms Bolt told the BBC: "An accident involving drones and an aircraft carrying nuclear material, or drones causing aircraft to crash on the base near where nuclear weapons are stored, could have catastrophic consequences."

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