Public spending cuts that would do us all a favour
There is general agreement that the UK’s public sector finances are in a critical state. The UK is forecast to borrow £178bn this financial year, with net public sector debt expected to reach well over 50% of GDP1. In the next financial year borrowing is expected to be around £170bn – equivalent to more than £2,700 for every UK resident for just one year’s debt.
Posted by jossc — 22 March 2010 at 4:38pm
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Sandra Butcher, senior program coordinator, international
secretariat, Pugwash. This article first appeared in Comment is Free on Monday 22 March.
Gordon Brown told the Foreign Press Association in London on Friday that he would highlight the upcoming "moments of opportunity and challenge". He said we "must now urgently do more to build upon that brief moment of collective international will", and he reminded us that "global problems need global solutions".
Despite this rhetoric, and earlier UK statements promoting the ultimate goal of a nuclear weapons-free world, in reality Brown's comments on nuclear weapons were tepid, sadly leaving him in some ways behind the Tory party lines as discussed by shadow foreign minister David Lidington last week at the Royal Society. There was certainly no sign that Brown intends to encourage his government to show transformative leadership in this area.
Posted by Louise Edge — 11 March 2010 at 2:54pm
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Trident: replacement costs are spiralling out of control
Former chief of defence staff, Lord Guthrie, said last night that the UK should consider cutting plans to replace the Trident nuclear missile system and build the UK’s largest ever aircraft carriers.
In a speech at the centre-right thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, he said there was a gaping hole at the heart of Britain's military budget which was "too big to massage, to trim, to rely on efficiency savings and prayer". Britain, he added, faced a "moment of decision" in shaping a new defence strategy.
At a time of economic crisis and emerging threats to UK security such as international terrorism, failed states, pandemic diseases and above all, climate change, the government is still poised to commit tens of billions to two Cold War-style defence projects.
Is replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system and building and equipping Britain’s largest ever aircraft supercarriers still relevant or necessary?
In the Firing Line asks whether these hugely expensive projects still represent value for money, and whether they can deliver real security for the UK.
Responding to
Gordon Brown's speech today laying out the government's roadmap to the 2010
nuclear non-proliferation conference Greenpeace UK disarmament campaigner Louise
Edge said:
"We welcome the fact that the Labour government is finally
making some positive noises towards eliminating nuclear weapons - which remain
one of the most serious threats facing mankind.
Posted by Louise Edge — 16 July 2009 at 1:43pm
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In recent months it
has become increasingly clear that the UK has a massive hole in its national
budget and whoever comes to power after the next election is going to have to
slash government spending. The debate about what should be cut has just begun,
but already emerging at the top of many people's lists (certainly mine)
is the planned £76bn replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.
Okay, each
side still have enough bombs to destroy the Earth several times over. Plus the
agreement only deals with "deployed strategic" weapons, leaving out the
thousands of nuclear weapons deemed "non-strategic" or "non-deployed". But
coming after years of standoff the fact the two countries are back at the
negotiating table is undoubtedly GOOD NEWS.
Posted by Louise Edge — 2 April 2009 at 4:00pm
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During his election campaign President Obama placed a high emphasis on dealing with one of the greatest threats we all face - reducing the vast numbers of nuclear missiles held by both Russia and the United States.
As he put it in his inauguration speech "With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat" In response to an arms control survey he was more specific – "I will not authorize the development of new nuclear weapons. And I will make the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide a central element of U.S. nuclear policy."
Posted by jossc — 20 March 2009 at 12:44pm
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Martin Butcher gives his reaction to the Prime Minister's recent policy speech on the future of Britain's nuclear arsenal. Martin is a consultant on international security issues and a
Nato policy analyst for the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. This article first appeared in Comment is Free on 17th March.
Gordon Brown's speech today at Lancaster House
exposed a fundamental contradiction at the heart of government policy
on non-proliferation. The prime minister sees the importance of a world
free of nuclear weapons
because it is the only way of guaranteeing "that our children and
grandchildren will be free from the threat of nuclear war". And yet,
his government is committed to the development of a new generation of submarine-based nuclear weapons to replace Trident, thus maintaining Britain's status as a nuclear weapons state for half a century.
