European Socialists drive disarmament

europe1Ahead of the European elections this year, a number of Labour’s sister parties in the Party of European Socialists have been taking the initiative in driving forward the nuclear disarmament agenda.

In this context, the Labour Party should discuss and set out how it intends to achieve nuclear disarmament – with the decision on Trident replacement looming after the next election.

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A global ban on nuclear weapons

Most significantly in Europe, the Austrian government – a coalition led by Social Democrat President Heinz Fischer and Prime Minister Werner Faymann – have announced they will host a major conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons in the Autumn.

The conference is the latest in an initiative with growing global reach and momentum, which saw 127 states attend a conference in Norway in March 2013 and 146 states attend a follow-up conference in Mexico in February this year.

With official delegates hearing new research from the International Committee for the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation and Chatham House, there is a push to ‘stigmatise, ban and eliminate’ nuclear weapons – in the words of the Austrian President – in the same way that cluster munitions, landmines, and chemical and biological weapons have in the past.

The Austrian Social Democrats Foreign spokesperson, Christine Muttonen, stated, “This is an important part of our foreign policy … we want to continue to play an active and leading role in the issue of international ostracism and the total ban of nuclear weapons.

The UK, along with the other four Non-Proliferation Treaty nuclear weapon states, boycotted the first two conferences, with the UK stating its belief that the call for a ban disrupts its ‘step-by-step programme’ to disarm – which includes replacing Trident.

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Opposition to NATO nuclear weapons in Europe

In Belgium and the Netherlands a debate is taking place about purchasing F-35 stealth fighters to replace their aging F-16s, and the continued deployment of NATO-assigned US B-61 nuclear weapons which the current F-16s carry.

Reports state that in Belgium, at the recent Congress of the Flemish Socialist Party Alternative, the party stated it would not back a future coalition government that would continue to support the presence of the B-61 bombs. Socialist MP Dirk van dar Maelen said, “Those nuclear weapons must be transported – they quickly found an excuse to replace the existing aircraft and to give new aircraft €4billion.”

A report on the party’s website also states they would not purchase the F-35 planes at all, favouring greater EU defence co-ordination and prioritising spending the money on social programmes.

In the Netherlands, the coalition government that includes the Labour Party has recently decided to go ahead with purchasing 37 F-35 planes, despite the party voting not to do so in the previous parliament in July 2012.

However, reports state that despite support for the plane purchase, Labour Foreign Minister Timmermans, ‘wants to work with NATO allies to prepare proposals that lead to removal [and] realises that finding alternatives is crucial to convincing these states to stop blocking the withdrawal of the B61.’

 

By Ben Folley

Conference resolution and fringe 2013

Contemporary Resolutions

Scrapping Trident is the subject of our model contemporary motion to Labour Party Annual Conference this year.

 

It is time the Labour Party seriously debated Trident, a throwback to the Cold War which consumes enormous resources that would be better spent elsewhere and with no relevance to the UK’s security needs.

It is vital that Labour CND supporters ensure these debates are heard at Labour Party Conference.

  • Make sure your CLP discusses and submits one of these resolutions.
  • Make sure your delegate is present at any relevant Conference Arrangements Committee meeting before conference.
  • Make sure you promote the resolution to ensure it is prioritised for debate.

 

The deadline to submit motions is noon on 12th September 2012.

Please email info@labourcnd.org.uk and let us know if your CLP is submitting one of these or a similar motion.

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Labour CND’s fringe meeting at Labour Party Conference

 

Join the debate on Trident the Labour Party needs to have.

Labour, Trident and the 2015 election

6.30pm, Monday 23rd September
Royal Albion Hotel, Old Steine Brighton (map)

Nick Brown MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Sheila Gilmore MP
Clive Lewis PPC
Nancy Platts PPC
Ann Black, NEC
Kate Hudson, CND

Refreshments provided

Email info@labourcnd.org.uk for more information.

Facebook event

Labour CND congratulates Ed Miliband

tomahawk missile-bThe following letter was sent on 30th August, to congratulate Ed Miliband on his achievement of averting British involvement in a military attack on Syria.
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Dear Ed,
 
Labour CND congratulates you on successfully leading the opposition to British military intervention in Syria’s civil war. 
 
We are confident that you will do all you can to encourage diplomacy aiming at peace negotiations to end the conflict. 
 
Clearly these negotiations cannot exclude any of the participants in the civil war and preferably should include the neighbouring countries. 
 
We look forward to your response. 
 
Yours, 
 
Joy Hurcombe and Walter Wolfgang 
On behalf of Labour CND

Scrap Trident: Walter’s letter to Ed

walter2Dear Ed,

Many thanks for your good wishes for my 90th birthday and all you are doing to convince the people of this country that Labour can provide a socially just alternative to coalition austerity.

Many people realise that the coalition has failed but are not yet convinced that Labour has made up its own mind and that its policies are clear and credible.

One of the problems the country faces is that a replacement of the Trident weapon system is unaffordable, useless and – by encouraging proliferation – an obstacle to multilateral nuclear disarmament.

You should make sure that there is a vote at the 2013 Labour Party conference which I believe will decide to scrap Trident and not replace it.

With scrapping Trident increasingly popular amongst both Labour Party members and the public, particularly in the current economic crisis, such a principled stand will help to bring new members into the party it will also ensure that others will speak up for the Labour Party.

This is vitally necessary to build the kind of support that will secure a Labour Government. We need a Labour General Election victory.

As this is a matter of public interest I am publishing this letter of thanks on Labour CND’s website.

Yours sincerely,

Walter Wolfgang

Labour must hold Trident debate now

Many people would prioritise spending on health or education, on infrastructure, job creation or supporting the vulnerable rather than on replacing Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons. Others would argue that spending over £100bn on a cold war weapons system – rather than maintaining our troops or combating cyber warfare – is detrimental to the national interest. Many of us see that there is no strategic, economic or moral case for nuclear weapons, but others who think otherwise. It remains a controversial debate.

A decision on the replacement of Trident is due to be taken in 2016. If the Labour party is to form the next government, now is the time to debate it, in an open fashion, to arrive at an informed policy – leaving aside past prejudices – in Britain’s best interests. For Labour to regain trust in its ability to govern openly and transparently, it must show it is confident enough in its own processes to have it. This year’s Labour party conference is the time to debate this crucial issue.

Nick Brown MP, Newcastle EastMartin Caton MP, Gower / Katy Clark MP, North Ayrshire and ArranMichael Connarty MP, Linlithgow and Falkirk East / Jeremy Corbyn MP, Islington NorthPaul Flynn MP, Newport West / Sheila Gilmore MP, Edinburgh EastFabian Hamilton MP, Leeds North East / Kelvin Hopkins MP, Luton NorthJohn McDonnell MP, Hayes and Harlington / Michael Meacher MP, Oldham West and RoytonJoan Walley MP, Stoke-on-Trent North / Claudia Beamish MSP, South ScotlandNeil Findlay MSP, Lothian / Christine Chapman AM, Cynon ValleyJenny Rathbone AM, Cardiff  / Central / Julie Morgan AM, Cardiff NorthJulie James AM, Swansea West / Baroness Ruth ListerLord Alf Dubs / Clive  Lewis PPC, Norwich SouthNancy Platts PPC, Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven / Lisa Forbes PPC, PeterboroughAnn Black NEC / Lucy Anderson, London NPF repNick Davies, Wales NPF rep / Ruth Davies, Yorkshire and Humber  NPF repAnnabelle Harle, Wales NPF rep / Carol Hayton, South East NPF repJenny Holland, East of England NPF rep / Chris Hughes, North West NPF repSally Hussain, London NPF rep / George McManus, Yorkshire and Humber NPF repDoug Naysmith, South West NPF rep / Alice Perry, London NPF repNicholas Russell, Labour Disabled Members Group NPF rep / Lorna Trollope, East of England NPF repDarren Williams, Wales NPF rep 


 


 


 


Signatories names will be published. Data will be processed by Organic Campaigns and held under their privacy policy. Acknowledgements.





Join Labour’s Trident debate

Get involved in Labour’s Trident debate

The debate around Trident in the Labour Party is now developing and it is important that Labour CND activists get involved.

The Financial Times recently claimed that said Ed Miliband was open to alternatives to like-for-like Trident replacement.

This followed former Defence Secretary Des Browne’s statement that‘Since 2006, important things have changed and it is time for a more honest debate about the defence choices facing the country.’

Going further, Labour’s Former Defence Minister, Frank Judd, recently said, ‘I strongly believe that the case and need for, and relevance of, a new Trident have never been established.’

 

What we need to do

A debate on nuclear weapons will be more difficult to secure in the final months before an election. Therefore the Labour Party needs to debate Trident in 2013 if it is to do so before the 2015 General Election.

Labour CND activists need to take action to ensure Trident is fully debated at the National Policy Forum (NPF) on the 22nd June this year.

 

1. Contribute to the YourBritain website

The YourBritain website is Labour’s online policy site and submissions to the site will be considered by the NPF.

We need as many submissions sent by individual activists, branches and constituencies, as possible.

 

2. Contact members of the National Policy Forum

To contact members of the NPF’s Global Role Commission:

 

To contact your NPF regional reps:

 

3. Discuss Trident at your CLP

 

Keep Labour CND updated on your local discussions and submissions by emailing us at  info@labourcnd.org.uk.

Obituary: Jim Mortimer

Mortimer2Pundits and commentators of a New Labour tendency have not been kind to Jim Mortimer, General Secretary of the Labour Party during its trough of depression in the first half of the 1980s. He is, in particular, held responsible for the election manifesto of 1983, memorably described by Gerald Kaufman as “the longest suicide note in history.”

At the fag-end of his tenure I was elected to the constituency section of the National Executive Committee, and I have a far kinder assessment. He was a thoughtful and intellectual trade unionist, straight as a die; at 61, instead of enjoying well-earned retirement he agreed to become General Secretary of an impecunious and troubled Party in those turbulent political times at the request of the new Labour leader. Michael Foot. Mortimer and his partner Pat, later his wife, were of deeply held socialist opinions. In his attitudes to the issues of the day he chimed with the concerns of Party workers equally concerned about subjects such as nuclear weapons and workers’ rights.

If he had retired then he would have been remembered as a serious academic who had given his life to the trade unions, written and lectured with authority on union affairs and been relatively uncontroversial. In fact he was to be one of the party’s most controversial General Secretaries.

Mortimer was contemptuous of “spin”. His background was one in which politicians and unions spoke as plainly as they could. He was unapologetic in helping to put forward Labour’s aims. The 1983 election campaign was difficult since left and right could not decide what they wanted.

Mortimer did make what was perhaps a colossal boob, but it was understandable at the time. Early in the campaign he replied to a hostile question from a tabloid journalist by saying that the Party “had full confidence” in its leader. I saw the film of this incident which showed Mortimer as soon as he’d made his announcement, looking bewildered at the journalists’ excited reaction. He hadn’t ticked on to the fact that his words might cause the electorate to question Foot’s leadership and Labour’s unity of purpose. Mortimer was not streetwise, but blaming him for the election defeat in the wake of the triumphalism of the Falklands War, which he had passionately opposed, would be unfair.

He was born in 1921, the son of a disabled newsagent eking out a living in Bradford. His father was a member of the Socialist Labour Parties, the British branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, and worked closely with stalwarts of the Left such as John Cryer, the father of Bob Cryer, a minister in the Wilson government.

From his parents Mortimer inherited a feeling for the importance of international socialist solidarity. As a young shipfitter he was in a reserved occupation; his interest in union affairs secured him a place at Ruskin College at the end of the war. At 25 he worked for the TUC economic department and was picked as a full-time official in 1948 by his union, the Draughtsmen’s and Allied Technicians Association, whom he served until 1968, when he became a director of the then flourishing London Cooperative Society, until 1971; for seven years he was chairman of ACAS, which settled the most thorny industrial disputes.

Mortimer played an important part, from 1971-74, on the Armed Forces pay review body. Perhaps he was appointed in the expectation that as a left-winger with pacifist tendencies he would push for pay restraint; in fact he believed service personnel merited a proper reward even if their country was asking them to do something he thought should not be done.

A well-organised person, he found time to make a considerable contribution to the industrial literature of the day. His History of the Association of Engineering and Shipbuilding Draughtsmen (1960) was perhaps the first union history written by a working leader. In 1965 he combined with the ebullient Clive Jenkins to publish British Trade Unions Today and the influential The Kind of Laws the Unions Ought to Want, in 1968. If the line they proposed had been adopted I doubt there would have been the difficulties following In Place of Strife.

Between 1973 and 1993 he published the History of the Boilermakers Society in three volumes. Academia recognised the seriousness of his scholarship: he became a Visiting Fellow to the Administrative Staff College at Henley (1976-82) and Senior Visiting Fellow to Bradford University (1977-82) who gave him an honorary DLitt. He also became Visiting Professor at Imperial College and Ward-Perkins Resident Fellow at Pembroke College Oxford. His autobiography A Life on the Left (1999) and The Formation of the Labour Party, Lessons for Today are worth reading for any student of modern British political history.

Mortimer remained General Secretary until 1985, and as a member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the National Executive Committee I know it was he who staved off bankruptcy. He remained active in the union movement and was one of six Manufacturing Science Finance (MSF) members who made a legal challenge to Labour’s disqualification of London MSF votes in the mayoral candidate selection process of 2000. The courts found in Labour’s favour since London MSF had not paid its party dues for three years. Mortimer and five colleagues were ordered to pay costs.

Mortimer acted out of a concern for doing right in the Party. In my last conversation with him he expressed his dismay at how the Party conference had become a rally, discussion dampened to the point of extinction. He was proud to be “Old Labour” and believed people would only really work for a party if they believed they had some influence in its decision-making.

Tam Dalyell

James Edward Mortimer, trade union official, politician and writer: born Bradford 12 January 1921; official, Draughtsman and Allied Technicians Association (General Secretary 1958-68); General Secretary, Labour Party 1982-1985; married firstly Renee Horton (deceased; two sons, one daughter), secondly Pat Mortimer; died Portsmouth 23 April 2013.

Originally published by The Independent

Trident: NPF reps need your views

lobby1
Click to lobby your NPF reps.

George McManus is a member of the National Policy Forum from Yorkshire and the Humber region, and sits on it’s Global Role Commission.

Here he explains why you need to tell your NPF reps your own views on Trident replacement which will discuss Trident before Annual Conference.

 

“In recent weeks, senior Labour figures have been getting stuck into the Trident debate and the question of whether the UK should develop a new nuclear weapon system.

Des Browne, Labour’s former Defence Secretary, recently wrote in the Daily Telegraph, ‘Since 2006, important things have changed and it is time for a more honest debate about the defence choices facing the country’.

John Hutton and George Robertson hit back, writing ‘there is no magic alternative to Trident’

More recently, John Prescott, in the Sunday Mirror this week, said, ‘for David Cameron to claim that the North Korea situation proves why we must spend £20billion on a new Trident nuclear defence system is just absurd … let’s not be conned into replacing Trident, which as well as the £20 bilion price tag will cost £3 billion per year for the next 30 years to maintain.’

And former chief whip Nick Brown, wrote, ‘The answer to international uncertainty is not to buy the most powerful weapon system available and threaten all comers.’

So MPs and Peers are having their say – and they’re not all saying what you might expect. But what are the views of the party membership? How can ordinary members contribute to the debate?

Last year a meeting of the NPF’s Britain in the World Commission lots of NPF members expressed opposition to Trident replacement. But how many of you knew?

The official report said there were a variety of views and agreed that the same Commission should discuss Trident again this year.

This discussion may be hinged on the terms of the Lib Dem Trident Alternatives Review, but I think it’s important the party has a much more important debate, about whether we have nuclear weapons at all.

Being frank, my position right now is that we shouldn’t replace Trident – the UK shouldn’t have nuclear weapons.

The UK signed a deal in 1970 that we would get rid of our nuclear weapons. Both we and the Tories say we’re committed to that deal but no-one believes the Tories will carry it out.

I think we should do the right thing and stick to our promises on nuclear disarmament.

As a member of the Global Role Policy Commission, I am delighted that CLPs have been writing to me saying that there is no moral, economic or strategic case for Trident renewal.

But more importantly, I’m glad that we may now be in a position to have a mature debate about the issues. But this will only happen if you, the members, demand that such a discussion takes place.

The YourBritain website is a major step forward in facilitating this discussion and I would urge you to engage with it.

That’s why I’m delighted that Labour CND are encouraging you to write in to members of the NPF’s Global Role Commission and tell us your views on Trident.”

 

 

 

George McManus  

NPF CLP Rep Yorkshire & The Humber

Labour CND AGM 2013

At our 2013 AGM, Marian Hobbs, former Disarmament Minister in the New Zealand Labour government opened the conference and welcomed a room full of young activists.

She discussed the isolation of the UK government in international negotiations on nuclear disarmament, and the isolation of the UK Labour Party in the family of left and social democratic parties around the world in failing to deliver nuclear disarmament.

She said there was no better time than now for Labour to prepare for carrying out nuclear disarmament after 2015, with the perfect storm of the end of Trident’s operational life meeting the changed security requirements of the post-Cold War world and the pain of austerity calling expenditure on major military projects in to greater question.

In the morning panel Owen Jones took up the question of cost and said a Labour government elected in 2015 spending billions on Trident while families suffered under austerity would be ‘a sickening spectacle’.

He talked about the catastrophic effects of nuclear weapons, referring to the 80s film Threads set in his hometown. The humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons was the subject of an interantional conference the week before the AGM, but which the UK had boycotted.

Kate Taylor repeated the message, saying, ‘To me, the NHS is essential. The welfare state is essential. Support for the disabled, free higher education, affordable housing, having enough money to heat your home and eat – those things are essential. Weapons of mass destruction – Trident – is not.’

As a councillor for a naval port, she took a combative stance against Trident, saying an ‘MOD report found that if they were to relocate Britain’s weapons of mass destruction to Devonport, and there was a nuclear accident, their worst case scenario was that 11,000 people would be killed by radiation poisoning … if these weapons are too dangerous for Plymouth, then they’re too dangerous for Faslane and Milford Haven or for any other community the MOD would want to inflict them on.’

Clive Lewis, the PPC for Norwich South, was asked to look at the 2015 election and gave a wide-ranging speech that condemned New Labour’s ‘Faustian pact with neo-liberalism’ and unfettered dominance of the market and big business’.

On Trident, he said, ‘we know the moral, economic, military and strategic case for non-renewal is overwhelming’ and on international non-proliferation, said ‘we have no right to intimidate other countries into not possessing nuclear weapons when we have them on such a large scale ourselves. It’s this hypocrisy, that undermines the entire nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.’

Annabelle Harle, on the party’s policy making process, and the new Your Britain site in particular, said, ‘The argument can be won across the spectrum … so get on there and write – remember that the views of members, CLPs and party groups count for more, and community groups are popular too – so go back to your constituencies tonight and log on’.

 

AGM

The day finished with an AGM committing Labour CND to working in the party to build opposition to Trident replacement and secure a manifesto commitment to scrapping it as well as urging the Labour leadership to make greater commitments to initiatives to advance negotiations for multilateral disarmament.

 

See also:

 

Labour CND Discussion and AGM

A Labour Government can’t afford Trident

Labour CND discussion and AGM

11am – 4pm
Saturday 9th March
Birkbeck College, Malet St, London

Join us in discussing how we ensure Labour acts on its commitment to nuclear disarmament and secure a commitment to rejecting Trident replacement at the 2015 election.

 

Agenda

11am
Registration

11.30am – 11.45am
Marian Hobbs, former New Zealand Labour Disarmament Minister

11.45am – 1.15pm
A Labour Government can’t afford Trident

  • Owen Jones, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Annabelle Harle (NPF rep, Wales), Cllr Alice Perry (Islington and NPF rep, London) and Cllr Kate Taylor (Plymouth).

 

2pm – 3pm
A conversation with Walter Wolfgang

  • After the recent publication of a biographical pamphlet, Carol Turner interviews Walter Wolfgang on his campaigning life.
  • You can buy the pamphlet here.

 

3.15pm – 3.30pm
Clive Lewis, PPC for Norwich South, on the 2015 manifesto

 

3.30pm – 4pm
Labour CND AGM

  • Labour CND members are welcome to submit motions in an individual capacity (deadline of 22nd February).
  • We are keen to expand our executive committee. If you would like to join, please email expressions of interest.
  • Email address regarding motions and joining the executive committee is info@labourcnd.org.uk

 

* Discussion sessions are open to all.
* AGM open to Labour CND members. If you hold Labour Party and CND memberships you are a member of Labour CND and entitled to vote at its AGM.