CND today published a damning response to the Concluding Report of the Trident Commission, entitled Against the Tide.
Against the Tide states that the Commission has ‘done little to challenge the pro-Trident mindset which dominates government and the leadership of the main political parties’.
The report makes the case for cancelling the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system, describing it as ‘pragmatic and realistic’.
The case for cancelling the Trident replacement programme is set out under a number of themes, including security, humanitarian considerations, cost and legal obligations.
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said,
‘The Trident Commission’s conclusion that the UK should retain and deploy a nuclear arsenal demonstrates Westminster’s pro-Trident mindset and repeats the failings of the Liberal Democrats’ Trident Alternatives Review, the Coalition’s Strategic Defence and Security Review and the previous Labour Government’s White Paper, all of which failed to articulate a convincing case for retaining a nuclear weapons capability.’
‘In contrast to proposals in the Trident Commission, only imaginative new steps can prevent us from further isolating ourselves from the rest of the world and potentially jeopardising the future of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.’
‘Cancelling the programme to replace Trident nuclear weapons is a pragmatic and realistic alternative. Against the Tide makes this clear.’