  A lower bound on the string tension for large beta in SU(2) LGT is derived.
The derivation is from first principles and bounds the string tension from
below by the expectation for the excitation of a single `tagged' thick vortex
winding around the lattice. Thus confinement follows if this expectation
remains nonvanishing at large beta. Numerical simulations are presented to show
that this is indeed the case.
