A VETERAN anti-nuclear campaigner has told North-East civic leaders about the need to back a campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Bruce Kent visited Durham Town Hall to talk about Mayors for Peace, which was started by the Mayors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese cities devastated by US atomic bombs at the end of the Second World War.

They hope civic leaders around the world will voice concerns of the people they represent about the spread of nuclear weapons, and press national leaders to dismantle nuclear arsenals by 2020.

Campaigners also plan to attend a conference in New York in May to review the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty amid fears that negotiations on the treaty's renewal could collapse.

So far, the campaign has 611 member cities in 109 countries.

Mr Kent, a former priest, was invited by Durham's Mayor, Mary Hawgood. Among those attending were the Mayor of Sunderland, Jim Scott.

He said he was delighted at the response to the Durham meeting and hopeful that disarmament would become a reality.

"We have seen things I never expected to see," he said.

"We have an International Criminal Court up and running, we have a landmines convention.

"Jack Straw (the Home Secretary) talks about not selling arms and nobody thought the Berlin Wall would come down, but it did come down in 12 months.''