Friday, August 07, 2015

Another reason to like Corbyn

Another reason to like Jeremy Corbyn: in addition to wanting to put Tony Blair behind bars for war crimes, he wants to scrap Trident:
Labour leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn will use the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima to set out his plan for nuclear disarmament in the UK.

Speaking at a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament commemorative event in London on Thursday, Corbyn will say that if he were prime minster he would not replace the Trident nuclear weapons system and would transition away from nuclear weapons entirely.

[...]

“As a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Britain should therefore give a lead in discharging its obligations by not seeking a replacement for Trident, as we are committed to accelerate concrete progress towards nuclear disarmament.

“Senior military figures have described our existing nuclear weapons as ‘militarily useless’ and our possession of them encourages other countries to seek a similar arsenal while undermining the efforts being made to advance the cause of international nuclear disarmament.”


Good. The UK's nuclear arsenal is a dangerous waste of money, and the sooner it is rid of it the better. Like the rest of the military, its just a hugely expensive relic of empire. Which means the British establishment will probably stop at nothing to defend it.