Don't Give Up!

Posted: 19th July 2016

A newsletter from the Campaign for Nuclear DisarmamentMPs last night voted in support of government plans to build four new submarines for the UK’s nuclear weapons system, Trident. In an ill-informed, head-in-the-sand debate, short on facts and ignoring Trident’s irrelevance to the security challenges that we face today, Parliament gave the go-ahead to a weapon of mass destruction which will cost at least £205 billion.

Politicians from every major political party voted against the plans, including 58 of Scotland’s 59 MPs.

CND’s key arguments were clearly heard in the debate. The Prime Minister was repeatedly challenged to state the lifetime cost of Trident replacement but was unable, or unwilling, to do so. Conservative MP and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Crispin Blunt said that ‘the cost of this programme comes at the expense of the rest of the defence programme’ and warned ‘costs are likely to rise much further’.

Ronnie Cowan MP was one of the speakers to point out that nuclear weapons do not keep us safe, saying Trident kept the country ‘locked in our cold war mentality of maintaining weapons to counter threats that do not exist’.

On the issue of jobs, SDLP MP Margaret Ritchie said there must be ‘better ways of investing in growth for their communities which do not involve nuclear weapons’. CND Vice-President and Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn MP called for the re-establishment of a Defence Diversification Agency to ‘support industries that have become over-reliant on defence contracts and wish to move into other contracts and other work’.

Yesterday’s decision demonstrated a failure of vision on the part of our government. This was a once in a generation opportunity to break with this antiquated weapons system and address our defence needs in ways appropriate to the twenty first century.

All the facts stack up against Trident – and they continue to do so, irrespective of this shameful and ill-informed vote. CND will continue to campaign against replacement, working with those broad forces across society who wish to see an end to Britain’s possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Join CND today to stand with us as we continue our campaign.Join CND today  Copyright © 2016 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, All rights reserved. 
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