Anti-nuclear campaigners have condemned Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis’ comments on Trident in his speech at Labour Party conference 2016 this morning.
Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:
“Clive Lewis has stated this morning that Labour will now prioritise support for multilateral disarmament initiatives. All well and good but what use is that if Labour fails to oppose Trident replacement? How can Labour claim to work for multilateral disarmament if it supports the government building a new nuclear weapons system at a cost of £205 Billion? This means Labour is supporting nuclear rearmament.
“Lewis has clearly signalled that the Labour leadership will not seek to change Labour policy and appears to have abandoned its Defence Review conducted extensively over the past year. The majority of Labour members oppose Trident replacement, so where is the democracy in that?
“Lewis made it clear that this was a decision designed to avoid political attack by the Prime Minister – but it has merely handed Theresa May support for one of her most controversial projects.
“There is enormous opposition to Trident replacement within the Labour Party and there will be huge disappointment at this U-turn by Clive Lewis. We have no doubt that Labour members will work to oppose this disastrous announcement and bring a democratic debate to Labour’s conference next year. This issue is too important for Britain’s future to be left to questions of political tactics.”
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