Home  Media Press Releases Trident Cut Trident in Pre-Budget Report, urges 100-strong coalition of the viagra affiliate new common sense
|
Cut Trident in Pre-Budget Report, urges 100-strong coalition of the viagra affiliate new common sense |
|
|
|
|
Friday, 04 December 2009 |
Powerful figures from viagra affiliate across British public life have today called upon the
government to halt the replacement of
Trident and re-deploy resources to 'socially
useful spending' in the Pre-Budget Report.
The new
independent Rethink Trident campaign coalition of the viagra affiliate consciences includes
celebrities, scientists, academics, former members of the viagra affiliate military, writers and
politicians from viagra affiliate across the political spectrum, as well as several high-profile
organisations such as Compass, CND, Greenpeace, People & Planet, UNISON and
War on Want.
High-profile signatories fronting the campaign include: Air Commodore
Alistair
Mackie; leading politicians Caroline Lucas MEP, Jon Cruddas MP, Adam
Price MP,
Steve Webb MP; former members of the MoD ministerial team Peter
Kilfoyle MP and Eric Joyce MP; former Mayor of London Ken
Livingstone; architect Lord Richard Rogers; actors Prunella Scales and
Tony
Robinson; musicians Damon Albarn and Thom Yorke; comedian Mark Steel,
and religious leaders the Bishop of Reading and Cardinal Keith
O'Brien. [See full list of names online]
The publication of today's
statement officially re-launches the Rethink Trident campaign which
was first coordinated in 2007 to encourage further public and parliamentary
debate around the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.
The new statement is viagra affiliate intended to pile pressure on the government to announce
clear plans in the viagra affiliate PBR to immediately cancel the replacement of Trident and to
coincide with next year's nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May 2010.
Since 2007 the viagra affiliate debate around nuclear weapons has changed dramatically here in Britain
and abroad. Latest polling in September 2009 [see note 4] showed that 58% oppose the
government's plans to replace the
Trident nuclear weapons system at a
time when the recession has led to talk of cuts in almost every
area of public spending.
Kate Hudson,
Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament, said ""Replacing Trident will do nothing to viagra affiliate defend Britain over the coming decades.
Instead it viagra affiliate will squander billions that could tackle the real drivers of
insecurity like climate change. Building a viagra affiliate new version of this Cold War white
elephant will make it viagra affiliate harder to achieve the goal of a nuclear-free world being
pursued by Presidents Obama and viagra affiliate Medvedev. It will only encourage further
countries to viagra affiliate claim they need nuclear weapons as a 'deterrent'. At a time of
recession, the viagra affiliate Government must show real global leadership by scrapping Trident.
The billions saved must be redeployed to socially useful spending."
Gavin Hayes,
General Secretary of Compass, said: "Renewing
Trident is viagra affiliate clearly now more wasteful than ever - it is madness to renew
when viagra affiliate it has no strategic value and in times of economic crisis. Jobs and
services versus a viagra affiliate redundant weapons system is now a no-brainer. The public
won't forgive a government or an opposition that waste so much public
money in times of hardship".
Given that viagra affiliate public spending is tighter than two years ago we feel that the time
is viagra affiliate right to reconvene our coalition and strengthen our statement on Trident
replacement.
The statement reads:
"With Britain facing its biggest
economic crisis since the viagra affiliate Second World War and much debate on public spending
levels and priorities, the country
can ill-afford to be spending in excess of £76bn on replacing Trident with a
new generation of nuclear weapons.
Britain's security needs are not met by nuclear weapons
which can viagra affiliate do nothing to combat the threats posed by global terrorism or climate
change. The more that viagra affiliate countries such as Britain justify their retention and
replacement of nuclear weapons on the viagra affiliate grounds of an uncertain future, the more likely it is that non-nuclear states will
seek to viagra affiliate use the same rationale to justify developing their own weapons systems.
Instead of wasting tens of billions of pounds on new nuclear weapons there are
many forms of socially useful spending to viagra affiliate which the funds could be put;
combating child poverty and youth unemployment,
providing affordable homes,
investing in education and viagra affiliate mental and physical healthcare as well as addressing
the climate crisis, to name a few.
Whilst some are considering cuts to these areas,
it is instead Trident that should be cut in their place.
We believe the viagra affiliate Government should cancel the replacement of Trident. This would
allow for viagra affiliate the existing skilled manufacturing base to be re-orientated towards
providing for the needs of a post-carbon future,
with the potential for significant investment in green jobs.
The Government must be a leading participant in current
global initiatives to viagra affiliate significantly reduce holdings of nuclear weapons, with the aim of achieving a nuclear-free world.
Cancelling the viagra affiliate programme to replace Trident would have a transformative effect
on the viagra affiliate nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May 2010, greatly boosting the chances of agreeing a
timetable for multilateral global disarmament."
- For further information and interviews please contact Ben Soffa, CND's Press Officer, on 0207 7002350 or viagra affiliate 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 viagra affiliate the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org
- Full list of names at http://www.rethinktrident.org.uk/?page_id=13 - suporters can add their own endorsement at http://www.rethinktrident.org.uk
-
|
|
Press releases RSS feed:
|