Spend Trident cash on transport and services, says RMT

Publication Date: December 4 2006

THE TENS of billions of public pounds the government intends to spend on new weapons of mass destruction should be spent on public services, Britain’s specialist transport trade union says today.

As the government was due to publish its White Paper on Trident replacement, RMT called for the cash earmarked for it to be ploughed instead into helping Britain meet its climate challenge.

"We need to spend money on saving the planet, not on weapons that can help destroy it," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The £25 billion the government wants to spend on replacing Trident - and it could be three times that - could go a long way to helping Britain reduce carbon emmissions, build some of the transport infrastructure we desperately need and to help bolster our public services.

"Blair took us into an illegal war over weapons of mass destruction that didn't even exist, and now he wants to tear up the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to build some new ones of his own - there is only one word for that, and it is hypocrisy.

"While there is starvation, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and a grave environmental threat hanging over our planet it would be nothing short of obscene to go ahead with replacing Trident, whether it's with 200 warheads, 100 or just one.

"The brave MPs who have come out against Trident are to be congratulated, but there are far too many, across the parties, are totally out of step with what people in the real world want.

"MPs are supposed to be there to represent the people, but it seems that we are going to need to take to the street again in huge numbers to make it clear that we want our money spent on peaceful construction, not on bloody destruction," Bob Crow said. 

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Note for editors: Below is the RMT motion on Trident adopted by this year's TUC Congress

Congress notes that the Prime Minister has stated adecision on whether or not to replace Britain's nuclear weapons system, Trident, will be taken this year.

Congress welcomes the demand of the Defence Select Committee for a full public and Parliamentary debate on this issue.

Congress believes that Britain's nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, capable of killing millions of people and are tied into US military and foreign policy and that far from deterring nuclear threats, replacing Trident may increase the risk of nuclear conflict.

Congress is alarmed that a successor to Trident could cost tens of billions of pounds.

Congress believes that in the absence of any rational argument for Trident replacement such expenditure would not only be immoral but a scandalous waste of public funds that could otherwise be invested in health, education, pensions, transport and manufacturing.

Congress also notes that the UK is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has made 'an unequivocal undertaking' to accomplish the total elimination of its nuclear arsenal.

Congress callsupon the Government not to replace Trident and also requests that the General Council urgently explores how it can work with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to oppose the replacement of Trident.

Finally Congress urges the Government not to reach a final decision on Trident replacement before issuing a consultative Green Paper on all the options for replacement, including non-replacement and a policy of arms diversification, followed by a White Paper and a deciding vote in Parliament.