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.
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.
