Protesters from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) have unveiled a 20-foot mushroom cloud at St George’s Plateau in Liverpool. They were calling on the government to stop increasing the risk of nuclear war and to instead focus on the real security issues facing the UK.
Protesters performed a symbolic ‘die-in’ underneath the mushroom cloud, highlighting the accelerating threat of nuclear weapons being used again in war.
In fact, this year, the hands of the Doomsday Clock moved to 85 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its history. Atomic scientists say that the rising risks to humanity and the planet are due to countries expanding their nuclear weapons and the breakdown of international arms control treaties.
CND is calling on prime minister Andy Burnham to reverse the deadly role that the UK is playing globally through expanding its own capability and authorising US nuclear weapons to be stationed in this country. The action coincides with his first speech to the Labour Party Conference as UK PM.
UK nuclear expansion
The government is pushing ahead with replacing the UK’s current fleet of nuclear-armed submarines. It’s also buying 12 nuclear-capable F-35A fighter jets from the US. Both of these actions breach its commitments under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Last year, overwhelming evidence suggested that RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk is now hosting US nuclear weapons.
Hand-in-hand with this nuclear expansion, the government is increasing military spending whilst cutting spending to essential public services, overseas aid and climate action. The government announced the Defence Investment Plan in June. It adds an extra £15bn to the UK’s annual military budget over the next four years.
At least £7bn of these increases has come through cuts to public services and climate action. Reports suggest the government plans to make even further cuts to public services in the autumn statement.
CND is calling on the government to reverse this deadly war drive and nuclear expansion. It wants the country to invest in saving lives, not destroying them. CND’s new People not Nukes report lays out the alternatives. It outlines how the £240bn earmarked for the UK’s new nuclear weapons could go into more productive areas of the economy. This would transform areas such as education, public health, and climate action.
CND general secretary Sophie Bolt said:
This protest is a wake-up call to the British government – who seem intent on dragging Britain towards nuclear war. Replacing Britain’s nuclear-armed submarines, expanding its nuclear capability by buying US nuclear-capable fighter jets – all this is increasing the threat of nuclear weapons being used in war.
And it only ties us all the more closely to the Trump administration. Giving permission to the US to station its nuclear weapons in Britain makes us a target in any nuclear war between the US and Russia.
War and militarism is only driving climate breakdown and a global recession. To reduce the threats we face, we need a total change in direction from Burnham’s government, focusing on dialogue and diplomacy, abiding by its international obligations to disarm its nuclear weapons and tackling the real security threats we face.
Halting the replacement of Britain’s nuclear weapons would release at least £240bn over the next thirty years. Our ‘People not Nukes’ campaign shows that, redirected, this money can help transform society, provide real security we need and help make the world safer. This is what Burnham needs to focus on.
Featured image via CND
By The Canary
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