Home  Media Press Releases Trident Majority want Britain to abandon nuclear weapons
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Majority want Britain to abandon nuclear weapons |
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Tuesday, 14 July 2009 |
The
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament welcomed today's Guardian/ICM poll
showing that a majority of Britons, 54%, want the country to rid itself
of nuclear weapons [note 3]. Only 42% favour the replacement of Trident
with a new generation of nuclear weapons. Significantly, the results
were achieved from a question that did not mention the potential costs
of the system, suggesting the growing acceptance that the UK does not
need nuclear weapons goes beyond objection to the costs of any one
development.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said
"Public opinion has decisively shifted towards opposing the UK's
retention of nuclear weapons - now we need politicians to catch up. The
majority who want Britain to go nuke-free will not tolerate parties who
plan to squander £76bn on replacing Trident. But the flip-side is also
true: those offering a defence policy relevant to the real threats of
the future and who will redirect the billions planned for Trident into
more useful programmes will reap the rewards at the ballot box. The
results also show that people are rejecting the need for such
city-destroying weapons entirely - plans for 'Trident-lite' or cheaper,
less capable nuclear weapons systems will not be a draw to these
voters. To ignore such a major shift in British public opinion is
foolhardy. It smacks of a head-in-the-sand approach - an unwillingness
to recognise that things change, and that policies have to change too.
"The
question of whether to commit billions to new nuclear weapons is also
an urgent one - the onus is now on the government to explain why it
intends to push ahead with the next stage of Trident replacement in
September during parliamentary recess without any debate or scrutiny
from MPs. The Foreign Affairs Committee and 160 MPs have called for
just such a debate yet the Government seems to want to carry on as
though nothing has changed - no recession, no Obama disarmament drive,
no shift in public opinion. This has to change before they commit
another £2bn to Trident in the next few months. [Notes 4, 5, 6]
"The
poll also highlights the need for the upcoming Defence Review to give
full consideration to cancelling Britain's ruinously expensive nuclear
programme. It is ludicrous that the MoD have defined Trident as a
"sacred cow" exempt from review, when culling this white elephant would
end its huge distortion of defence spending and allow a focus on more
immediate life-saving priorities. With President Obama acknowledging
that disarmament by established nuclear powers is the best way to
combat the spread of these terrible weapons, the urgent necessity for
nuclear disarmament is staring us in the face. Most people have
recognised that. The truly shocking fact is that our government -
ostrich-like - won't even enter into a discussion on the subject."
- ends -
- For further information and
interviews please contact Ben Soffa, CND's Press Officer, on 0207 7002350 or
07968 420859
- The Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe's biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with
over 35,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear
weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org
- Guardian/ICM poll: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/13/icm-poll-nuclear-weapons
- Parliament was promised in 2007
that they would have ample time for discussion of the new proposals for updating
Trident and yet decisions will be taken behind closed doors during the
Parliamentary recess this summer. EDM 660, signed by 160 MPs states that taking
the 'initial gate' decision during the recess "undermines the commitment made to
Parliament by the Foreign Secretary in March 2007; and requests that the Initial
Gate decision be delayed until Parliament is in session and can be presented
with the report for scrutiny." http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37711&SESSION=899
- House of Commons Foreign Affairs
Committee report 'Global Security: Non-Proliferation' of 3rd June
2009 concludes "We recommend that the Government should not take any decision at
the Initial Gate stage until Parliament has had the chance to scrutinise the
matter in a debate." Page 9/10 and Paragraph 133, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmfaff/222/222.pdf
- September 'initial gate' decision may release upwards of £2bn: Evidence presented to the Commons
Defence Select Committee by Michael Codner (Director of Military Sciences, Royal
United Services Institute) suggests that up to 15% of the capital costs of the
programme to build new Trident replacement submarines would be released by the
'initial gate' decision, with the remaining 85% falling after the 'main gate' in
2012-2014. Government estimates for the cost of the new submarines are £11-14bn,
meaning the decision this September would commit up to £2.1bn. Evidence from the
UK's ongoing Astute submarine programme suggests (currently 48% over budget)
suggests costs will be significantly higher, perhaps in the region of
£25bn.
Source: Page 120, marked Ev 72 of http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmdfence/986/986.pdf
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