Leeds peace advocates celebrate as campaign wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Yorkshire branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other local groups attended Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds city centre as the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, today.

A live streamed video of the event was played at the chapel, which received a round of applause from the more than 20 campaigners and politicians from the county who attended.

Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds North West, said: "Nelson Mandela said 'It always seems impossible until it's done'. Nuclear disarmament is one of those things."

He added: “This is something that’s been an issue that Leeds and Yorkshire has taken on for a very long time.”

Mr Sobel and Labour colleague Fabian Hamilton, who represents Leeds North East, were previously two of the first MPs to sign the Citizens' Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a petition set up in September this year.

Event co-organiser Matt Fawcett, 42, said: "Our role really is to try and keep it on the political agenda and make sure that the momentum that's been created by the treaty and by this Nobel Prize ensure that takes us to a safe world without nuclear weapons."