“Stop Trident” was the very clear message from the local campaigners who traveled by coach to London on Saturday (27 February 2016) to join the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament march and rally opposing plans to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system.
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“Thank you for coming to this demonstration, thank you for showing that you care and thank you showing you want a peaceful future for this country and the rest of the world”.
Trident is the UK’s fleet of nuclear submarines that carry nuclear arsenal.
Those who want to keep the Trident have said it is integral to the security of the United Kingdom.
Many people present and those following from home have logged on to Twitter to show support for the movement, which hasn’t had much media coverage, despite the high profile speakers.
Outgoing general secretary Sir Paul Kenny said renewing Trident had been Labour policy for a number of years and it was irresponsible to talk about scrapping it without addressing the implications for more than 50,000 jobs at stake.
The British have had nuclear-weapons carrying submarines gliding in the ocean since 1969 to deter a possible attack on Britain, the BBC reported.
Unions claim that Mr Corbyn, by opposing the renewal of Trident nuclear submarines, may be putting tens of thousands of defence industry jobs at risk.
However, Sturgeon was accused of playing “student politics” over Trident by one of Scotland’s biggest trade unions.
Michael Dugher, who was sacked from Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet last month, said: “I’ve nothing against old friends getting together at the weekend for a nice walk”.
Ms Sturgeon described Trident as “immoral” and “impractical”.
Rachel Lampard, Vice President Designate, of the Methodist Church; Paul Parker, Recording Clerk of Quakers in Britain; Mohammed Kozbar, Vice President of the Muslim Association of Britain and Rev Nagase, from the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Community, presented a multi faith statement on nuclear weapons at the start of the rally.
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Sturgeon said: “These are weapons of unspeakable power and brutality, capable of unleashing terror and human suffering on a simply unimaginable scale – and the UK Government is intent on basing another generation of them in Scottish waters, against the views of the majority of Scotland’s political, civic and religious representatives”.
