Peace Group calls for closure of Pennine spy base

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined many other groups from all parts of the country at Menwith Hill near Harrogate, on Sunday (17 October 2011), to call for the closure of the communications base, there, which provides intelligence support to the United States military.

The RAF describes the Menwith Hill base as being “owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and made available to the US Department of Defense (DoD)” (see http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/rafmenwithhill.cfm ). The RAF says that “the administration of the base is the responsibility of the US authorities.” and, in July 2007, the then Defence Minister, Des Browne, admitted that Britain had agreed to Menwith Hill being used by US forces as part of its controversial missile defence (‘Star Wars’) system.

Pat Sanchez, on behalf of the peace group said:

“It is outrageous enough that the US military are allowed to spy on the world from an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Pennines, but even more frightening that they are being allowed to absorb Menwith Hill into their dangerous plans for sending missiles into space. We do not want our countryside used for the Pentagon’s Star Wars fantasies. We do not want our world to be intimidated by US missiles and we do not want people in the Pennines to become a target during a future military conflict.”

"The decision to let the US use Menwith Hill in this way was made without any debate in Parliament or even the pretence of consultation with the public. There was no chance for MPs, let alone the public to discuss the decision to tie Menwith Hill into the so-called missile defence system." This totally unnecessary system will protect no-one, but it will threaten all of us, by giving the US the ability to strike without any fear of retaliation," she added.

Call for increased pressure on MPs to scrap Trident

At their annual conference held in Bradford on Saturday (15 October 2011) members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) from all parts of Britain unanimously supported the resolution from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group.

The resolution noted, in particular, that: "the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition is spending scarce public monies on developing a replacement for the Trident nuclear weapons system and that claims that a decision on Trident replacement has been postponed until after 2016 are clearly false, in light of the decision, announced on 18 May 2011, to spend up to £3billion of public money on designing submarines for the Trident system." It committed CND to continuing the campaign for the scrapping of all UK nuclear weapons and to encouraging all branches, affiliated groups, members and supporters to ensuring that all their local MPs state, publicly, their view on the decision announced in May 2011 to spend up to £3billion on designing submarines for the Trident nuclear weapons system

Philip Gilligan who spoke in favour of the motion said,

“For many, this will mean discovering yet again about the duplicity of their elected representatives; learning that some of those who, as candidates in 2010, appeared to declare their opposition to so-called 'Trident Replacement' have, in 2011, supported or said nothing about the Coalition Government's ongoing programme to upgrade the Trident system."

"We need to bust the myth of so-called 'deterrence'. We need to put the scrapping of Trident on the agenda of political parties. we need a nuclear-free future", he added.

CND conference also endorsed the membership of three people from Rochdale on its national council. Pat Sanchez and Rae Street remain as directly elected delegates, while Philip Gilligan remains as the representative from Greater Manchester and District CND.

Peace Group joins Manchester protest against the cuts

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group joined tens of thousands of other protesters at the North-West TUC demonstration against cuts to public services, pensions and jobs on Sunday afternoon (2 October 2011). They joined trade unions and campaigning groups from across the region in a march that took them through central Manchester and past the Conservative Party conference

Philip Gilligan said,

“This was a protest that united many groups who know that there are real alternatives to the policy of cuts in jobs, pensions and essential public services. The peace group was clear in promoting the message that an end to spending on the Trident nuclear weapons system and an end to spending on the disastrous war in Afghanistan would free many resources to help protect our education, health and social services. We were pleased to be marching alongside a wide variety of groups, including Rochdale UNISON and the Rochdale branch of the NASUWT. We are determined to protect services, pensions and jobs.”