Social care or nuclear missiles?

Date published: 27/05/2008

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group are asking people to tell the government that they want their taxes spent on social care for elders not on the Trident nuclear weapons system or plans to upgrade it.

They leafleted in Littleborough on Saturday morning (24 May) and collected more than 100 signed letters, that they will be sending to Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Health. The letters tell him: “You recently asked for people’s views on how to pay for essential non-medical care for older people. I believe that in a civilised society such care should be provided on the basis of need, free-of-charge and paid for by fair and progressive taxation. I would suggest that the government find this money by immediately decommissioning the existing Trident nuclear weapons system and scrapping plans to upgrade it. We need decent care for our elders, not ever more dangerous nuclear weapons of mass destruction.”

Philip Gilligan said: “The people we spoke to in Littleborough were in no doubt that they want their money spent on social care, not nuclear weapons. Many had direct experience of the inadequacies and costs of the care available to their parents and grandparents.

"Letters were signed at the rate of more than one per minute and we were amazed how quickly we ran out of them. This is obviously a crucial issue for people and we are confident of the same response in Rochdale, when we leaflet there.

"We are all likely to need social care in our old age, but governments have been eroding our social care services for decades. Now Gordon Brown’s government is threatening us with compulsory private insurance schemes which will force everyone to pay, regardless of income or need.

"They say that we need to plug a gap of £6 billion to pay for essential non-medical care for vulnerable older people, but they don’t yet seem to have spotted the obvious solution. Maintaining the existing Trident nuclear missile system already costs £1.5 billion per year and upgrading Trident will cost another £76 billion. If they would just stop squandering billions on nuclear weapons of mass destruction, they could soon find the money to provide decent social care for our elders.”