New Trident nuclear weapons
program approved despite public opposition
14 March 2007 - London, United Kingdom —
The world just became a more dangerous place
as the British parliament voted to continue
its nuclear madness for another 50 years.
The UK parliament has allowed Tony Blair's
Trident nuclear weapons program to go ahead,
committing the UK to squandering 76 billion
British pounds on upgrading its nuclear
weapons system for another 50 years.
In a parliamentary vote to "replace"
the Trident nuclear weapons system, the
proposal went ahead with 409 votes to 161
against. But the ruling and formerly disarmament
minded Labour party is far from unanimous,
some 95 of Labour members of parliament
voted against Blair's government. This is
the biggest Labour party rebellion since
the Iraq war.
Only 24 percent of the public support the
government's plans to replace Trident and
51 percent think that the final decision
to replace the Trident should be made through
a public referendum. Several members of
Blair's own government have resigned in
protest.
Nicky Davies of Greenpeace International
warned: "Blair is the ultimate global
hypocrite. He demonises other states for
trying to acquire nuclear weapons, yet has
no shame in foisting a Cold War relic, capable
of killing millions, on to the next generation."
"And far from making the world a safer
place, Blair's lust for nukes will encourage
others to follow his dangerous and unnecessary
example. His legacy will be a more dangerous
world".
Blair's program breaks the international
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and undermines
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. It also
puts Tony Blair at risk of breaking the
same international disarmament treaty that
he says Iran must respect.
Recent protests
We opposed the new Trident program with
intensive lobbying and a series of direct
action protests. Our climbers spent a cold
last night on a crane outside Big Ben, while
they were eventually compelled to come down
the message on their banner, "Tony
loves WMD", definitely got through.
Last month, the Arctic Sunrise blockaded
the UK's nuclear submarine base. After a
day long stand off police boarded the ship,
smashing their way onto the bridge. The
crew was arrested for being in a restricted
area, and our ship impounded for a week.
At the time, Greenpeace UK campaigner Louise
Edge, said from on board:
"We're blockading the base because
these nuclear arms submarines pose a threat
to the security of the world, not least
by encouraging other countries to go nuclear
in the future".
Tony Blair is playing a dangerous game
by saying to countries like North Korea
and Iran that nuclear weapons are necessary
for national defence, that the UK doesn't
care about its international legal obligations,
and that nuclear proliferation is the way
forward.
Rather than squander an estimated 76 billion
UK pounds on new and more sophisticated
ways to bomb the world to pieces, we calculate
that spending the same amount on tackling
climate change could reduce the UK's carbon
emissions by over 12 percent, making the
world a much safer place.
In the Middle East
While the Arctic Sunrise is in the UK taking
action against nuclear weapons in Europe;
the Rainbow Warrior pushing for a Nuclear
Free Middle East: a Middle East free of
all nuclear technology, both civil and military.
