How would you use £87 million in Rochdale?

Pat Sanchez of High Peak, Littleborough explaining to a young supporter why she thinks people should sign the petition against Trident replacement.

How would you use £87 million in Rochdale? asked the leaflet distributed by Littleborough and District Peace Group in Rochdale on Saturday. The group were asking shoppers to sign the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s petition calling on the government to halt plans to spend £25 billion on replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system. The leaflet explained that Rochdale’s share of this spending amounts to £87 million; enough, on its own, to pay for 419 extra nurses each year for 10 years or for 175 extra midwives each year for 20 years.

Pat Sanchez, on behalf of the Peace Group, said: "It is certainly enough to pay many times over for the cost of keeping those vital health services at Rochdale Infirmary which the government plans to cut." She added: "In Rochdale, we are losing local health services at the same time as the government is spending £20 million on a single computer system at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire which will serve only to develop ways of killing people in ever greater numbers. We are sure that Rochdale does not want the government to spend their money on new weapons of mass destruction. Like CND, the people of Rochdale know that replacing Trident with an even deadlier weapons system will take resources away from their public services and increase the risk of nuclear conflict throughout the world."

Anyone wanting copies of the ‘No Trident Replacement’ petition forms can obtain them by phoning Philip Gilligan on 01706 370712.