11:52am 3rd June 2016
Campaigners from Cornwall and Plymouth are joining a protest in a bid to disarm Britain’s nuclear weapons.
Dozens are travelling to a factory near Reading where the warheads are put together.
They warn the Trident system “threatens and prevents peace.”
A spokesperson said: “The belief that peace is sustainable through possessing nuclear arms is very popular in times of fear and hate-mongering. For us, it threatens and prevents peace.
“Our aim is to disable a war machine or system so that it can no longer harm people. The British Government has failed to implement Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in which it promised nuclear disarmament.
“News about Plutonium contamination in the Tamar from the Devonport Dockyard, Babcock’s quest to discharge even more radiation, reports of accidents within the dockyard, the statements of whistleblowers and health and safety specialists continue to horrify Plymouth residents.
“The current system is costing UK taxpayers £5,000 a minute to fund Trident submarines. Each submarine is armed with 4 nuclear warheads and each warhead is 8 x the power of the one used at Hiroshima. In these times of austerity we really need to divert this funding into health, education and sustainable energy.
“The British government has announced the decision time for the Trident renewal programme to happen in 2016. Yet, no exact date is given. Under these circumstances our hopes are higher than ever that Trident will be scrapped so that the world will be a safer place without weapons of mass destruction.”
As part of the “Burghfield Month of Action” protestors from France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, England, Scotland and Wales will stand in solidarity for the disarmament of nuclear weapons.