News | Labour Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

November 8, 2011May 7, 2017

‘Cut Trident to cut fees’

By Calum Sherwood, Co-Chair of Bristol Labour Students

Ed Miliband’s announcement at Labour Party conference apparently endorsing £6000 fees was a great disappointment to many students, within and without the party. As a leadership candidate Miliband had endorsed a graduate tax, which while imperfect, suggested to students he was opposed to the status quo. To accept the reviled tuition fees system as here to stay severely jeopardises Miliband’s position with students, and as Nick Clegg has seen, this can be a dangerous move. Students refuse to accept that free education is off the negotiation table, and the Labour Party must seize back the progressive ground on higher education policy.

Up and down the country, the student movement shares a common set of values which is opposed to privatisation, cuts to essential services, the marketisation of education and the furthering of a militaristic and imperialist foreign policy. The most effective way for the Labour Party to win back the support of those students who abandoned the party would be to demonstrate that they are in tune with those same values. Labour must begin by explicitly opposing the renewal of the Trident weapons system; at a cost of £100 billion when EMA is being scrapped and tuition fees are being raised to a phenomenal cost, students would appreciate a reality check on renewing such an egregiously costly relic from the Cold War days.

Labour must condemn any further imperialist interventions by Britain, opposing the sabre-rattling of those who would have us do to Iran what we did to Iraq. Labour must get on the side of 74% of the British public and agree that four more years of war in Afghanistan is unacceptable. Lastly, Labour must support free education for all. If education is a universal right, financial burden should never become a factor in achieving one’s academic potential. Knowledge is not a commodity which can simply be bought and sold, and to think so is anathema to the values of the Labour Party itself. Miliband must remember how his boldness energised students during his leadership campaign, and in turn harness the boldness of the values of the student movement in order to win them back to Labour.

October 6, 2011May 7, 2017

Ed Miliband on Trident Review

Ed welcomes Trident Alternatives Review – report from an encouraging conference

MPs Cathy Jamieson and Jeremy Corbyn, newly elected MSP Neil Findlay and National Policy Forum representative Sam Gurney, as well as Sonia Klein, who chaired a defence review for Labour Finance and Industry Group, were an excellent panel of speakers for a packed CND fringe meeting at Labour Party Conference this year.

With each giving their own insight into the party’s debate on Trident replacement, and with interesting thoughts from Ed Miliband later in the week, activists went away from the conference with a strong impetus to raise the demand for nuclear disarmament further in the year ahead.

Cathy Jamieson said there was no moral or economic case for Trident and condemned the Tories eagerly cutting people’s living standards whilst providing billions for nuclear weapons. But she also said there was no military case either, and expressed concern that housing and vital equipment for conventional forces was not up to standard.

Neil Findlay, elected to the Scottish Parliament for the first time this year, was particularly concerned that Labour was out of touch with mainstream public opinion on nuclear weapons, and highlighted how in Scotland being anti-Trident (and opposed to the Iraq war, he added) had been to their electoral advantage and he hoped that a new Scottish Labour leader would have the courage to express a difference with the Westminster leadership on such issues.

Sam Gurney tried to explain the complex process of the party’s policy review, drawing together the work of the National Policy Forum in considering submissions from CLPs and members, his own work on the Britain in the World policy commission and the reviews being conducted by Shadow Cabinet members, including Jim Murphy on Defence which would come together at the end of the policy review at the 2012 conference. Sam stressed it was vital that Labour CND members and their CLPs continued to make submissions to the National Policy Forum, and that it was weight of numbers and regular submissions that would be necessary to have an impact on representatives there.

But later in the week there was interesting news. During a question and answer session (start at 0:58:54) with members of the public, Ed Miliband said ‘I think the government has done the right think by commissioning a study looking at whether there are alternatives to the renewal of Trident. Actually, the big decision on this is 2015, 2016. I think it’s right we look at that and see what it comes out with because if there’s a different way of doing things which keeps us as secure and costs less then I think that’s a case certainly worth looking at.’

The government review, which will aid the Lib Dems in arguing for alternatives to Trident, will only consider alternative nuclear weapon systems. But it does challenge conventional Westminster thinking on Trident replacement and opens the door to serious questioning of the government strategy and a serious debate at the next general election, all of which we welcome.

With a great response from members, including the young members on the new conference Youth Days, we’ve made hundreds of new contacts from people across the party, we’re looking forward to a year ahead with growing support for change in the party.

August 31, 2011May 7, 2017

Contemporary issues for Conference 2011

Suggested contemporary issues for Labour Party Conference 2011

Labour CND has drafted three contemporary issues, on Trident, Libya and Afghanistan which you are welcome to amend as necessary for your CLP.

Your CLP can submit one contemporary issue, of ten words, with a supporting statement of up to 250 words.

You must submit your contemporary issue by 12 noon on Friday 16th September.

If your CLP does submit a contemporary issue on one of these subjects, please do let us know by emailing info@labourcnd.org.uk.

SUGGESTED ISSUE 1:

Scrap Trident and its replacement, support a Nuclear Weapons Convention

We note the view of the Commons Defence Committee, in its report of 3rd August 2011, that the Strategic Defence and Security Review was ‘unfinished business’.

The Chair of the Committee, James Arbuthnot, stated that the review was ‘rushed and done without proper consultation’ whilst Labour Shadow Defence Secretary, Jim Murphy, said ‘The decisions made in the review now clearly need themselves to be reviewed.’

The Trident nuclear weapon system was excluded from consideration in the Strategic Defence and Security Review process, with its future guaranteed in the final report, yet the National Security Strategy confirms a nuclear weapon system does not address our real defence and security threats.

Conference believes that Trident should not be replaced and that the existing system should be scrapped.

The achievement of a global Nuclear Weapons Convention – banning all nuclear weapons – should become a major objective of an incoming Labour government’s foreign policy.

Supporting statement: 149 words

SUGGESTED ISSUE 2:

UK forces should withdraw from Afghanistan immediately and unconditionally

Conference regrets the tragic loss of life in the attack on the British Council in Kabul on 19th August on the 92nd anniversary of Afghan independence from the UK in 1919.

Conference further notes the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan July report which stated the 1462 conflict-related Afghan civilian deaths over the first six months of 2011 represented a 15% increase compared to the same period in 2010.

The number of UK troops killed since 2001 now stands at 379, including 32 this year.

The Commons Defence Committee estimated in July that the cost of UK military operations in Afghanistan was more than £18bn, according to Ministry of Defence figures.

Conference resolves that the UK should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan immediately and unconditionally and encourage the United States and NATO to do likewise.

Supporting statement: 134 words

SUGGESTED ISSUE 3:

Labour condemns UK military intervention in Libya’s civil war

The military intervention by NATO in Libya’s civil war has caused needless death and destruction.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has expressed deep concern at reports of unacceptably large number of civilian casualties. On 12th August he stated that there can be no military solution to the Libyan crisis and that ‘a ceasefire linked to a political process … is the only viable means to achieving peace and security in Libya.’ Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the deaths of 85 civilians following a NATO airstrike near Zlitan on Monday 10th August.

We are concerned at reports on 28th August from NATO sources that Britain may have deployed troops in Libya, contrary to government policy.

Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander has stated the UK ‘would not be entitled to a mandate to pursue armed regime change’ yet the UN resolution 1973 has been used to pursue the illegal objective of regime change.

The concerns at mission creep, expressed by many Labour MPs, have been well-founded, including Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy warning against an ‘escalation of the conflict’ as the UK announced new commitments of military resources.

Conference demands an end to NATO’s military intervention in Libya and UK participation in it.

We call for a lasting ceasefire and urge the UN to facilitate negotiations with all the people of Libya for a peaceful settlement to include reparations from NATO for civilian casualties.

Supporting statement: 237 words

July 6, 2011May 7, 2017

Michael Foot remembered

Michael Foot was a real working class hero who had an immense influence on myself and many more in the Welsh Valleys. It turned my stomach to hear the hypocrisy of people like Michael Heseltine and the London press showering him with praise after his death, ranking him with Churchill.

The Tories loathed the sight of him and everything he stood for. The London press either ignored him, ridiculed him or egged on Labour to expel him. I first met Foot in the ’50s when he spoke at Blackwood Miners Institute. He mentioned nuclear disarmament and was heckled. He dealt with many hostile questions on nuclear issues. I spoke to him after the meeting and asked how I could get involved. “Get on the march to Aldermaston,” he said.

We trudged on our way and he never stopped talking about peace, education, taking control of our lives etc. His speech in Westminster Hall was powerful and passionate. It was out of that passion that CND was conceived. When Nye Bevan made his famous appeal against unilateral nuclear disarmament – “don’t send me naked into the conference chamber” – it was Michael who picked up the banner of nuclear disarmament and carried it forward.

While he did not agree with Nye’s position, they remained friends. When he passed away, his obvious successor as MP was Michael. The right wing of the Labour national executive in London did their best to stop him from going on the shortlist, but they didn’t stand a dog’s chance. The people of Ebbw Vale loved him – there was no more worthy successor. He never faltered from the path for peace and justice on behalf of the people of Ebbw Vale and beyond.

Thank you, Michael, for your unfaltering vision of peace.

Cllr Ray Davies, Caerphilly