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Danczuk opposition to 'Trident Replacement'

Date published: 12 March 2010

Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, having previously maintained that he was "undecided" on the issue of the Labour government's plans to upgrade the Trident nuclear missile system has, with the General Election just weeks away, finally made his mind up.

Mr Danczuk has written to Pat Sanchez of Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group saying that he "would oppose the Government replacing Trident" and "that money spent on Trident could be better spent on social and health care".

The Liberal Democrat PPC for Heywood and Middleton, Wera Hobhouse, has also commited herself to "follow official Lib Dem policy on the matter", which is not to replace Trident.

MP for Rochdale, Paul Rowen and MP for Heywood and Middleton, Jim Dobbin, have both demonstrated their opposition by voting against the government's plans to upgrade the Trident nuclear missile system when the matter was debated in Parliament on 14 March 2007.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group said: “We are very pleased to see that our ongoing campaign for nuclear disarmament is achieving positive results, and are particularly delighted that that there now appears to be cross-party support throughout the whole of Rochdale Borough.

"We hope that this will help persuade other local MPs, like Phil Woolas and Janet Anderson to follow public opinion and to, also, change their positions. We hope that it heralds the day when all our local MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates will join us in calling for the immediate decommissioning of the current Trident system. The existing system already costs the country £2,000,000,000 per year. This is money that needs to be spent on essential services, like social care, not on nuclear weapons.”

Comments

It seems to be the popular thing to oppose nuclear weapons.
Let us first create enough manufacturing companies to replace Trident and its employees.
It is very strange why MPs Like Eric Heffer, Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner never got to be Prime Minister. They have opposed nuclear weapons from day one.

They probally had too many moral principles to become Prime Ministers. Never heard of swords into ploughshares? It's in a well read book called The Bible.
Given the mess the planet is in regarding climate change/social breakdown and global/local poverty how about Trident into schools and hospitals and perhaps solar pannels and wind-turbines?
Useful jobs for people and the planet for a change.
This is the 21st century eyeballs, get with the programe friend.
War is over if we want it.

When Pakistan becomes radicalised and they threaten us with their nuclear weapons what will the anti Trident people expect us to do? Go begging for the US to help us out?

Spending £2,000,000,000 per year on Trident is also EXTREMLEY unpopular with our troops in Afghanistan who are sent to fight a way for a trans-national oil pipeline WITHOUT proper equipment, for example, body armour and armoured personel carriers. Perhaps some of these armchair strategists might like to discuss the cost of Trident with troops who've just lost their comrades.
I don't recall TRIDENT detering Argentina invade the Falklands, Iraq invade Kuwait, or Saddam and other recent disasters?

By 'anti-Trident people' do you mean the 63% of us in Britain OPPOSED completly to the renewal of Trident.
Or the 40% of us who said that while Britain should retain some form of nuclear deterrent, it should be less powerful and less expensive than Trident?
Or the 23% said Britain should give up nuclear weapons altogether?
Or the ONLY 23% MINORITY who said that the government should renew Trident at all?