CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt delves into May’s election results and what they mean for our campaigning for peace and nuclear disarmament.
May’s devolved and local elections show the fundamental shifts and fragmentation taking place in British politics. Keir Starmer’s government in Westminster, Labour in Scotland and Wales all suffered significant losses. The Conservatives also had sizeable defeats across the country. Instead, support for the far right, expressed through Reform, increased significantly. But there has been strong support for parties advocating for peace and nuclear disarmament, with surges for Plaid Cymru and the Green Party whilst the Scottish National Party retained a strong majority.
In the local elections across England, Reform gained an addition 1372 seats and took control of 14 councils in post-industrial areas, coastal communities, parts of the Midlands and in the North of England. In Wales they came a strong second to Plaid Cymru whilst in the Scottish elections, they increased their vote by nearly 16% to come joint second with Scottish Labour.
On current polling, Reform looks set to be the largest party in a 2029 General Election result. Whilst its reactionary policies on immigration and climate action are well known, its foreign policy isn’t, and its manifesto lacks detail. There is, however, a clear commitment to increased military spending and the expansion of nuclear power. Certainly, the far right has been acting as a mouthpiece for Trump’s warmongering and the aggressive, racist climate is being used to whip up hatred and create ‘enemies’ to justify illegal wars.
In contrast, the Green Party’s surge in support gave reasons for the peace movement to be hopeful. The party opposes nuclear weapons, any increase in military spending, the expansion of nuclear power and supports the removal of ‘all foreign nuclear weapons from UK soil’.
In total, the Greens won an extra 393 seats in the English local elections, making significant gains particularly in London where they now control five councils. Outside of London, they now lead Norwich City Council, a borough close to RAF Lakenheath, where such foreign (US) nuclear weapons have now been stationed on UK soil.
The Greens also made considerable gains in Scotland, winning two constituency MSPs for the first time and increasing their total Members of the Scottish Parliament from 8 to 15.
The SNP, despite losses, held onto a strong majority and its leadership of the Scottish Parliament. The Party, reflecting the very strong opposition to the nuclear submarines imposed on the people of Scotland back in the 1960s, maintains an unequivocal opposition to nuclear weapons.
Plaid Cymru’s success in winning the Senedd elections, ahead of Reform, was another beacon of hope from the results. Plaid remains committed to unilateral nuclear disarmament, and the scrapping of Britain’s Trident nuclear submarines. It also opposes any increases in defence spending. However, an expected anti-nuclear struggle in Wales will be over plans to build Small Modular Reactors on the old nuclear power plant site at Wylfa, which Plaid have said it will accept.
With anti-nuclear leaderships in both Scotland and Wales and a strong base of support for peace and nuclear disarmament in London, it is critical that we maximise all the opportunities to halt the drive to war and nuclear expansion. CND Cymru and Scottish CND are already planning strategies to advance this and London CND is already building links with Green councils in London.
Many localities now led by Greens are part of the Mayors for Peace international initiative.
This offers important opportunities to bring communities together to shape the alternatives to militarism, nuclear weapons and war, of which the Alternative Defence Review is an essential foundation.
We know how serious the rise of the far right is. It is exploiting the worsening economic situation to whip up racism and hatred. This is in a situation where the full economic impact of the illegal US-Israeli attacks on Iran has yet to be felt in Britain.
News that Iran has withdrawn from negotiations with the US due to Israel’s continued breach of the ceasefire with its horrific bombardment of Lebanon increases the dangers of the full-blown war breaking out again. This will also only worsen the economic situation at a time when the government is again considering cuts to public services to fund even more hikes to the military budget and nuclear weapons.
This is why CND’s campaigning against the illegal war on Iran goes hand in hand with our ‘Nurses Not Nukes’ campaigning – to push for government to prioritise the real security threats we face from social deprivation and climate breakdown. That’s also why CND is one of the many civil society organisations supporting the Together Alliance against the far right, which calls for unity and hope – where genuine security comes from investing in people and planet, not war and weapons. This work is absolutely vital if we are to secure the anti-nuclear majority we so desperately need.