Peace Group deplores escalating spending on nuclear weapons

Peace Group’s most recent campaign stall in Rochdale

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group condemned the "unbridled expenditure" on Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system, following the government’s announcement of a £1billion contract with Rolls Royce to include the building of nuclear reactors for the next generation of nuclear armed submarines.

Philip Gilligan on behalf of the group said: "The government’s announcement is another kick in the teeth for ordinary people in Rochdale. When our local services are cut year after year, and we are told repeatedly that Britain does not have money for decent health and social care, it is horrific that the Ministry of Defence keeps finding further £billions to squander on a nuclear weapons system which most people oppose."

"When essential services are being slashed, this latest announcement shows that the government has very skewed priorities. Only recently the Ministry of Defence announced another £350million spending on designs for an as-yet-unauthorised new generation of nuclear armed submarines. Now they are going to waste vast amounts on the reactors for them."

"This kind of unbridled expenditure shows the need for greater Parliamentary scrutiny of, and public opposition to, the wild commitment to an economically disastrous and strategically moribund nuclear weapons system."

“I trust that our local MPs will take up this challenge.”