Leaders from four political parties will join what promises to be the biggest mobilisation against nuclear weapons in a generation when they march from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square on Saturday 27 February as part of a national demonstration against Trident.
Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn will be joined by Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party, Caroline Lucas of the Greens and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood on the ‘Stop Trident: Decision Time 2016’ CND demo to call on Parliament not to replace Trident nuclear warheads.
Compass, one of the supporting organisations, has launched a campaign called ‘It’s Time to Move On’ calling for a progressive alliance against Trident renewal starting with the march next Saturday.
“Our argument is clear,” they say. “Trident does not give us security from any of the real threats hitting our headlines today. It is not an effective deterrent against terrorism, cyber-attacks or against the biggest threat of all – climate change.
“Simply having nuclear weapons on our territory – being a member of the elitist nuclear club – makes us a target for the disaffected. We should be with the 107 nations currently signed up to the ‘humanitarian pledge’ and working to make nuclear weapons illegal.
“It’s time to forge a more level playing field and create the strong transnational networks that give us the long-term security we need.
“Not replacing Trident would give our economy a £100 billion windfall over the next 10 years. That money spent on conflict prevention and resolution and investing in society, economy and infrastructure gives us the internal security we need to get back to being a thriving country.”
A ‘Time to Move On’ video is available to watch and share via social media, while you can also email your MP and sign a petition.
The Compass project website is here.
And you can follow them on Twitter @moveontrident.
More information about the demo is on the CND website here.
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20 February 2016
I welcome the fact that Jeremy Corbyn is in favour of the democratisation of the Labour Party. But surely this can only fully be done via a series of due changes to the Rules and Constitution of the Labour Party itself. In the meantime, Jeremy and the PLP in general (plus our Euro MPs) should surely be expected to adhere to established Labour Party policy (although as part of healthy internal Labour Party discussions, they should also be free to indicate what changes in Labour Party policy they would like to see take place). But until these changes are agreed, then aren’t such people (and especially our leader) stuck with established Labour Party policy? At least to the extent of not undermining it in a major way by their actions.
On Trident, the policy which was endorsed at the last Labour Party Conference was “In line with the agreement reached by the National Policy Forum, the …. manifesto outlined Labour’s commitment to a minimum, credible, independent nuclear capability, delivered through a Continuous At-Sea Deterrent.” This position was endorsed in Labour’s recent General Election Manifesto. The quote is from the endorsed National Policy Forum Report on “Britain’s Global Role Policy Commission”. This is the established decision of the Labour Party Conference, even if moves are being made to change the proposal – and to properly democratise the Party.
Should the leader of the Labour Party not wait until Labour’s policy on Trident is changed before he goes as far as joining marches of the above type. Otherwise his actions seem to undermine his commitment to Labour’s democratisation. This does not, of course, tell against the Labour rank and file joining the march. But leadership does call for actions at times which seek to reconcile irreconcilables.