ANTI-ARMS campaigners today condemned the “outrageous railroading” of the US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) renewal through Parliament.

The MDA, active since 1958, enables vital nuclear material and technology transfers between the US and Britain, reviewed every 10 years.

But the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) condemned the government’s intention to make the treaty permanent by removing the clause that requires the treaty to be extended and enables debate and amendment, including rejection.

Announced just before Parliament’s summer recess, the renewal changes left MPs limited time to discuss the MDA, with the deadline of October 23 amid other parliamentary priorities, the campaign group said.

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said: “Thousands of CND supporters have contacted their MPs to raise the MDA as an issue for debate in Parliament before the 23 October deadline.

“Despite this outpouring of public concern, the limited time MPs have spent in Parliament since the election has left very little space for the open discussion this significant but little-known treaty deserves.

“The railroading of the MDA by the government is typical of the policy that successive governments have been pursuing when it comes to Britain’s military policies and its possession of nuclear weapons.

“This ‘special relationship’ tethers British military and foreign policy to Washington — and makes redundant the claim that Britain has an independent nuclear weapons system.”

Ms Hudson said that without US support, Britain would be unable to sustain its nuclear arsenal.

“Efforts to scrutinise this relationship are regularly deflected by the government under the guise of national security,” she said.