21st November 2006 updated 4th December 2006

Call for money to be spent on tackling climate change not Trident

Plus sign Downing St online petition against Trident Renewal. Online Petition at:

 http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/trident

In May 2005 Stroud Town Council voted unanimously to enroll in Mayors for Peace which was started by Mayor Araki of Hiroshima and comprises of towns that have expressed support to abolish all nuclear weapons (i). Now with the intensification of the debate about renewal of the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system and a Parliamentary vote promised in early 2007, Mayor Kevin Cranston is writing to all Gloucestershire Mayors in the hope that they will sign up (iii).  
 

Kevin Cranston, a retired Lieutenant Colonel who helped organise helicopter support for the British Army in the 1991 Gulf war said: "More than 1430 other Mayors from 120 countries have signed. On Friday I will be sending letters to all Gloucestershire's Mayors in the hope they will join us. Nuclear weapons are unable and unsuitable to meet today’s major security threat: terrorism. The more nuclear states insist that such weapons are essential to national security, the more other states will feel that they too must have them. Plus the replacement costs of at least £30 billion will adversely affect public spending on services like health. Indeed the billions could instead pay a large part of what is needed for us to tackle climate change (ii). That is the real threat to our security. Furthermore renewal of Trident would breach our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty to accomplish the total elimination of its nuclear arsenal."

Kevin Cranston said: "It is highly ironic that former CND member Tony Blair, looks set to ignore this treaty and replace Trident with a new generation weapon that will costs billions, have no purpose and offer us no protection from any likely threat. It is is also the most blatant hypocrisy to preach disarmament to Iran and North Korea if we carry on developing new weapons."

Green Mayor Kevin Cranston met Mayor Araki of Hiroshima this summer when he visited Britain to call for an end of nuclear weapons. Mayors for Peace started after atomic bombs reduced the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to rubble in August 1945, taking hundreds of thousands of lives. Sixty years on, thousands still suffer the after-effects of radiation. To prevent a repetition of this tragedy, the Mayor of Hiroshima lobbies the nuclear powers to make progress on nuclear disarmament.

Kevin Cranston concluded: "The only way to stop nuclear weapons is to stop nuclear weapons everywhere, with no exceptions: one rule for all. The best place to start is at home."


Notes:

(i) Mayors for Peace website: http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/index.html

On Sunday 2 July 2006 Dr Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima and President of International Mayors for Peace met other Mayors for Peace including Kevin Cranston, Mayor of Stroud at Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. The meeting came about after Stroud Town Council decided unanimously last year to sign up to support Mayor Akiba's programme to abolish all nuclear weapons. See:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1344&Itemid=2

June 2005: Green Mayor of Stroud, Kevin Cranston, was supported unanimously by councillors on Stroud Town Council in a meeting last month, in his bid to sign up with more than 1000 other mayors(i) from 111 countries to Mayors for Peace.  See:
http://www.glosgreenparty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=613&Itemid=2

(ii) After the apocalyptic vision of global catastrophe presented in the Stern report on climate change, by midweek there was broad political agreement that countries need to start committing to dramatic cuts in greenhouse gases. But no one has yet tried to estimate exactly how much it will cost or where the money will come from to get emissions down by the 60% minimum scientists say is needed by 2030. Intriguingly, calculations by economic and environmental researchers as well as the Guardian suggest a striking parallel between the amount needed to cut emissions, and one of the most controversial areas of government spending - the cost of renewing and maintaining Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent.

See The Guardian 4th Nov 2006:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1939422,00.html

(iii) Copy of letter sent to all Mayors in Gloucestershire

Dear

I am writing to you, as Mayor of Stroud, about the unanimous decision by Stroud Town Council to enroll in Mayors for Peace (i). There are now more than 1430 other Mayors from 120 countries signed up and I hope to persuade you to do the same so that all Mayors in Gloucestershire will join.

As you maybe aware, Mayors for Peace was started by Mayor Araki of Hiroshima and comprises Mayors of towns and cities from around the world that have formally expressed support for his programme to abolish all nuclear weapons. In August 1945, atomic bombs reduced the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to rubble, taking hundreds of thousands of lives. Sixty years on, thousands still suffer the after-effects of radiation. To prevent a repetition of this tragedy, The Mayor of Hiroshima lobbies the nuclear powers to make progress on nuclear disarmament. The more signatures he has supporting him the more pressure he can bring to bear. It is completely apolitical and has support from all quarters of the globe. Mayors for Peace is definitely not an empty gesture.

I am a retired Lieutenant Colonel and whilst I could see a purpose to Trident during the Cold War I can see no utility in it now. Whatever justification there was for possessing nuclear weapons has long since passed yet Britain still maintains a nuclear deterrent even though we have no foes that would be deterred by it. Certainly, Trident does nothing to deter terrorists. The only arguments that anyone can come up with for keeping it are that it might be useful one day and that it buys us a seat at the top table. But I cannot imagine any circumstances where it would be used and I reckon we would command more respect around the world if Britain gave a lead and got rid of its remaining nuclear weapons, without replacement.

I enclose below a link to the website where you can obtain more details and a registration form (1). I do hope you will feel able to join us. I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Cranston, Mayor of Stroud

(1) Mayors for Peace website (to join go to 'About Us' and then 'How To Join'): http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/index.html