Trident in the Evening News

I sent this press release to the Evening News on Saturday, this is the full version and the link below will take you to the published version!


MSP to Join Faslane Anti Nuclear protest
Lothian’s MSP Colin Fox will join a protest outside Faslane Naval Base on Monday [8th Jan] as the opposition to replacing Trident nuclear missiles intensifies.

With the Westminster Parliament due to vote on replacing Britain’s nuclear deterrent next month Fox believes Scottish public opinion is solidly against Trident.
‘I have been campaigning on this issue throughout the country over the past few months and the response illustrates the widespread opposition there is to our ‘nuclear weapons of mass destruction’.
‘Whilst Tony Blair is intent on obtaining even more of these weapons most people consider them obscene. It is clear Labour just cannot be trusted on Trident. It is plainly a pro nuclear party now.
By contrast, I believe these weapons to be both immoral and illegal. They fall foul of international law because they cannot distinguish between enemy combatants on the one hand and innocent civilians on the other.
‘Having read the governments white paper ‘Maintaining the UK’s Nuclear Deterrent’ I do not believe they have made the case for replacing Trident. And I fail to see how Tony Blair can lecture other countries about not developing nuclear ‘WMD’s’ and then turn round and spend upwards of £25bn on a second generation of Trident missiles. It makes a mockery of Britain’s commitment to the nuclear non Proliferation Treaty.’
‘Opinion in Scotland is sharply against Trident and its replacement. I am certain that an Independent Scotland would simply not accept these weapons being based here.
The recent vote at Holyrood revealed many Labour MSP’s hiding behind a cowardly position of ‘It’s a Westminster decision, it’s not for this Parliament. Well I disagree, this is an issue for us all. The electorate are entitled to know where everyone stands. And Monday is about making clear where I stand.’

Monday’s protest is part of a year long effort by Scottish CND called ‘Faslane 365’ which seeks to keep the issue at the forefront of public opinion.
ENDS

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=31142007