Rochdale wants properly funded health and social care for Christmas not Trident nuclear weapons, says Peace Group

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group in Rochdale Town Centre

Peace campaigners from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group got into the festive spirit in Yorkshire Street on Saturday (26 November), to ask Rochdale what it really wants for Christmas.

Their giant letter read: "Dear Santa, We live in Rochdale and we have tried to be good this year.

"What we really want for Christmas is to know that the government will stop wasting £billions on the Trident nuclear weapons system and will start spending this money on..."

People were invited to add their own suggestions.

Many focused on saving the NHS while others added requests for things like better schooling, childcare for working mothers, more funding for adult and children's social care. All were agreed that they want their taxes spent on decent services rather than the Trident nuclear weapons system.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said: “The people we spoke to were clear that the £billions the government wastes every year on Trident could be spent much much better.

“They are angry that successive governments have squandered £billions on useless and dangerous nuclear weapons while making swingeing cuts to the social care, health and education services we all need.

“The existing Trident system needs to be scrapped immediately, and we need the government to halt its plans to squander more £billions on ever more dangerous and ever more expensive nuclear weapons of mass destruction. We need this to happen, before it’s too late.”