The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) have expressed their concern about today’s announcement in Barrow by the Defence Minister Gavin Williamson of £2.5bn for new submarines, including nuclear armed Trident submarines, at a time when the wider budget of the Ministry of Defence is in such a state of confusion.
We share NFLA’s concerns and urge the Defence Minister to rethink his announcement today. The Nuclear debate is a feminist issue and we believe that at a time when public sector pay is being cut in real times, women’s refuges are being refused funding and mothers are losing their benefits that such money should be spent elsewhere.
This decision from Williamson comes furthermore after the National Audit Office has suggested that his department may not have the capacity to fund all its procurement projects.
NFLA media release, for immediate release, 14th May 2018
NFLA ask why is the Ministry of Defence announcing more money for new Trident submarines when its procurement budget is in such a state of confusionNFLA opposes the development of new Trident submarines as it is going against the ‘good faith’ commitments for nuclear disarmament enshrined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is therefore alarming to NFLA that the UK, like the US, France, Russia and China are all seeking to modernise their nuclear weapons programmes at a time when the large majority of states in the world are in the process of ratifying the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The full press release can be downloaded here – NFLA_Trident_spending_and_MOD_budget