Rochdale
and Littleborough Peace Group joined tens of thousands of
protesters in Manchester, this afternoon (Sunday 29
September 2013) as the TUC told the Conservative Party
conference to stop cuts and privatisation in the NHS.
Greater
Manchester
Police estimated that at least 50,000 people joined the
protest. Hundreds carried ‘NHS not Trident’ placards, while
Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group members displayed the
same message on their Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament T-shirts.
On
behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said,
“In
Rochdale and in Greater Manchester; throughout the North
West and throughout the country, the government is cutting
and privatising essential services. It claims that it has
insufficient money to maintain the services we need for
decent health, education and social care. But the government
is still committed to spending £billions each year on
maintaining the Trident nuclear missile system and to
spending £billions more on its even more dangerous
replacement. This is not what our country needs or wants. It
is not what Rochdale needs or wants. The Peace Group will
continue to press both the government and all our local MPs
to commit themselves to policies that will ensure that the
country stops wasting money on nuclear weapons and starts
rebuilding the NHS service we need for our future.”
