Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams MP has welcomed a substantial report by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) which outlines the strong economic case against Trident replacement.
The report launched today focuses on seven fields of policy where £100bn – the cost of Trident over its lifetime – could be better spent in various ways from creating 2 million jobs to insulating 15 million homes.
Speaking ahead of attending the report launch in the House of Commons, Mr Williams said:
“Plaid Cymru is wholly committed to a nuclear weapons-free world and the CND’s latest report is a welcome development in strengthening the case for scrapping Trident.
“£100bn is an eye-watering sum of money. The fact that the UK government insists on renewing Trident when vital public services are being slashed is simply perverse.
“We are also very concerned that the First Minister of Wales has stated that these nuclear weapons would be welcomed to Welsh shores in the event of a Yes vote in the Scottish referendum.
“In the Emergency Budget that followed the last General Election, the Plaid/SNP/Green group tabled an amendment in the Commons calling for the scrapping of Trident renewal. The three unionist parties united to vote the amendment down.
“This comprehensive and convincing study by the CND has calculated just some of the ways these billions of pounds could be better spent in the UK. 150,000 new nurses, 2,000 new primary schools, 1.5 million affordable homes – the list goes on.
“It is a damning reflection of a government’s warped priorities when it miraculously manages to find huge sums of money for Cold War weapons while thousands of families are forced to use food banks.
“Tomorrow, the Chancellor has an opportunity to balance the books without forcing the most vulnerable in society to pay the price for the failure of the banks. We urge him to wake up to the fact that job security and adequate healthcare would make people feel far safer than nuclear subs ever could.”
