attack. It envisaged the abandonment of irradiated cities, where fires would be left to burn uncontrolled, and the breakdown of society into lawlessness. The exercise included decisions made to triage casualties by likelihood of survival, with those affected by severe radiation sickness left to die without food or treatment, and the prioritisation of resources on those healthy adults with skills necessary to keep remaining infrastructure working. Campbell records that all but 1,000 prisoners were to be released from jails. Opposition and local authority refusals The running of the Hard Rock exercise was opposed by the CND who said it made no sense to run an exercise on post-attack response if the government's position was that the nuclear deterrent was effective. The pacifist Peace Pledge Union opposed the exercise on the grounds that "normalised militarism". In 1980 Manchester City Council declared itself a nuclear-free zone, proclaiming nuclear weapons and nuclear power unwelcome within its boundaries. It was the first British local authority to do so but by 1982 143 authorities had joined it. Many of these authorities refused to participate in Hard Rock, though other concerns such as cost were also a factor. Refusals were largely in local authorities controlled by the Labour Party, with some using it as an opportunity to demonstrate their opposition to the defence policies of the Conservative government. The CND offered support to any authorities that decided not to participate and, with the Scientists Against Nuclear Arms orgnaisatio and the unofficial support of the Labour National Executive Committee (NEC), produced a pack of information outlying its views on the exercise. As part of its opposition to Hard Rock the Greater London Council invited the public to view its secret nuclear bunkers, intended for post-attack command by civil defence personnel, with 4,800 people visited them in six days. By July 1982 19 county councils and the Greater London Council, out of the 54 local authorities which had been asked to participate, had confirmed their refusal. During Prime Minister's Questions on 15 July the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, stated that all 20 authorities that refused were Labour-run. A further seven local authorities stated that they could comply in only a limited manner. By September, the Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw had announced that the exercise had been indefinitely postponed, though it was, in effect, cancelled. Legacy Despite other factors such as politics and finance, the CND believed the cancellation