Mayors and councillors from across the UK who share a commitment to tackling the twin threats of climate change and nuclear weapons proliferation will meet in Manchester this Thursday.

The Methodist Church has welcomed news that Gordon Brown has pledged to consider cutting Britain’s nuclear arsenal. The UK will begin to scale back its stockpile of nuclear warheads if Russia and the US agree to new reductions, the prime minister said yesterday.

Thirty national arms control, religious, and environmental organizations in the US have joined together to urge a block on finance for a new generation of nuclear weapons - urging funding to be axed for the Reliable Replacement Warhead.

Protestant and Catholic church leaders in Scotland have renewed their criticism on Britain’s post-Trident nuclear weapons plans and have called for a major non-proliferation effort.

The need for churches to be vigilant about nuclear proliferation has been stressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee in a statement adopted at its 27 February - 2 March meeting in Bossey, near Geneva.