The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has been criticised for avoiding the issue of Trident in his speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday (29 September).
Although he referred to the need to work with other states on nuclear non-proliferation, Brown failed even to mention the Trident nuclear weapons system, despite increasingly vocal opposition to its renewal.
Churches, other faith groups, NGOs and trades unions have spoken out against Trident and ministers are now reported to be split on the issue in the light of their plans for spending cuts in other areas.
"It is hard to see how the Prime Minister can simultaneously work to stop the nuclear arms race, and press ahead with developing a new nuclear weapons system to replace Trident” said Kate Hudson of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
She urged him to “stop trying to ride two horses at once”.
While the government has estimated the cost of Trident renewal to be around £20 billion, research published this month put the price at nearly five times that sum.
"Gordon Brown has outlined a wide-ranging programme to help the British people, all of which requires money” said Hudson, “Scrapping Trident and its replacement would be a sure way to save in excess of £100 billion."
Diaspora*
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Technorati
StumbleUpon