Peace group say 'join us in marching for the alternative'

Jenny Turner and Patricia Gilligan at the stall in Yorkshire Street on Saturday 19 March 2011

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group is calling on as many people as possible to join the TUC's 'March for the Alternative' in London next Saturday (26 March 2011).

The peace campaigners were in Yorkshire Street on Saturday (19 March 2011) calling for people to join demonstrations against the Government's plans to cut health, education and welfare and to demand that resources are transferred to these services from spending on the Trident nuclear weapons system, NATO's war in Afghanistan and public subsidies to the nuclear power industry.

On behalf of the Peace Group, Philip Gilligan said:“We live in dangerous and difficult times. We cannot afford to take risks with our own or our children's futures. It is essential that we defend and revive our public services with decent levels of funding.

“As a country, we cannot afford to squander billions of pounds on nuclear weapons we do not need or want NATO's disastrous war in Afghanistan. Nor can we afford to see our Government subsidising a nuclear power industry that can never guarantee the safety of its power stations or remove the incalculable and ever-present risks from the nuclear waste their power stations produce.

Mr Gilligan added:“In Rochdale, we need our hospital services restored and we need the Council to reverse the cuts it has been forced to make in essential local services.

“We, also, need to remember that there are alternatives to the policies being pursued by Cameron, Clegg and Milliband. We need to demand that our taxes are spent on what we need, not on threats to our future."