14 February 2012
Churches - UK would be £55 billion better off without Trident
Churches are urging the Government not to shackle the UK to a
£55 billion spending commitment on Trident over the next 15 years.
They argue that dispensing with nuclear missiles would be
beneficial to UK security and our economy.
The Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the
United Reformed Church have launched a campaign -
"Better off Without Trident" - which calls on the Government
not to spend £26 billion of tax payers' money on replacing the
country's nuclear submarines. The maintenance and operation of
these submarines is likely to cost at least an additional £29
billion over 15 years. An online resource, launched today, explains
how UK public services, employment opportunities and national
security would all be improved by decommissioning the UK's nuclear
missiles.
Each year for 15 years, Trident will cost the UK £3.7 billion. For
the same amount, the Government could invest in: 15,000 more health
visitors; 15,000 more teachers; 300 Sure Start centres; 12,500 new
council houses per year; solar energy for 345,000 council houses
and still leave an additional billion pounds available to support
our troops. The three Churches are encouraging people to make the
case against Trident to their MPs.
The Revd Leo Osborn, President of the Methodist Conference, said:
"This is one of the biggest capital projects in the Government's
spending plans. We are being told that we must accept cutbacks in
public services. At a time when the protection for the poorest in
our society is under pressure it is surely wrong to tie up so much
public money in nuclear missiles and their delivery systems. There
is still time for the Government to say "no" to Trident."
The next big Parliamentary debate on Trident is likely to take
place around or immediately following the General Election in 2015.
In May last year the Ministry of Defence approved the "Initial
Gate" decision to spend £4 billion on a nuclear power propulsion
system and other items for the proposed new Trident submarines. The
Churches have expressed concerns that this £4 billion spending is
already £2 billion over budget. The expenditure already committed
would not be wasted if the procured items could be switched to an
existing submarine development programme.
The Revd Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union
of Great Britain, said: "In these days of austerity and severe
cutbacks it would be extraordinary not to revisit the Trident
issue. We fully appreciate the need for the country to have
appropriate defence, but urge the Government to abandon this
extraordinarily expensive project which relates to a defence
context that has long since disappeared."
Spending on Trident is unpopular with many senior Ministry of
Defence staff who have seen other capital projects cancelled, whole
regiments axed and Forces personnel put under strain due to the
intensity of operational deployments. Trident consumes six per cent
of the Ministry of Defence revenue budget. The new START treaty
signed by the US and Russia has strengthened calls for progress
towards complete nuclear disarmament. Church leaders said that if
the Government continues with the Trident programme, the UK would
be locked into nuclear weapons for the next 30 to 40 years. From
the perspective of Christian ethics the Churches have expressed
concern about the moral implications of becoming accustomed to
violence and the exercise of power associated with continued
possession of nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War era. They called
on the Government to adopt a leadership role in the multilateral
disarmament processes in order to enable progress towards a world
without nuclear weapons.