Majority want Britain to abandon nuclear weapons

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament welcomed today's Guardian/ICM poll showing that a majority of Britons, 54%, want the country to rid itself of nuclear weapons [note 3]. Only 42% favour the replacement of Trident with a new generation of nuclear weapons. Significantly, the results were achieved from a question that did not mention the potential costs of the system, suggesting the growing acceptance that the UK does not need nuclear weapons goes beyond objection to the costs of any one development.

Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said "Public opinion has decisively shifted towards opposing the UK's retention of nuclear weapons - now we need politicians to catch up. The majority who want Britain to go nuke-free will not tolerate parties who plan to squander £76bn on replacing Trident. But the flip-side is also true: those offering a defence policy relevant to the real threats of the future and who will redirect the billions planned for Trident into more useful programmes will reap the rewards at the ballot box. The results also show that people are rejecting the need for such city-destroying weapons entirely - plans for 'Trident-lite' or cheaper, less capable nuclear weapons systems will not be a draw to these voters. To ignore such a major shift in British public opinion is foolhardy. It smacks of a head-in-the-sand approach - an unwillingness to recognise that things change, and that policies have to change too.

"The question of whether to commit billions to new nuclear weapons is also an urgent one - the onus is now on the government to explain why it intends to push ahead with the next stage of Trident replacement in September during parliamentary recess without any debate or scrutiny from MPs. The Foreign Affairs Committee and 160 MPs have called for just such a debate yet the Government seems to want to carry on as though nothing has changed - no recession, no Obama disarmament drive, no shift in public opinion. This has to change before they commit another £2bn to Trident in the next few months. [Notes 4, 5, 6]

"The poll also highlights the need for the upcoming Defence Review to give full consideration to cancelling Britain's ruinously expensive nuclear programme. It is ludicrous that the MoD have defined Trident as a "sacred cow" exempt from review, when culling this white elephant would end its huge distortion of defence spending and allow a focus on more immediate life-saving priorities. With President Obama acknowledging that disarmament by established nuclear powers is the best way to combat the spread of these terrible weapons, the urgent necessity for nuclear disarmament is staring us in the face. Most people have recognised that. The truly shocking fact is that our government - ostrich-like - won't even enter into a discussion on the subject."

POLL SHOWS TIDE HAS TURNED ON TRIDENT RENEWAL

A new poll which shows the majority of people across the UK oppose replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system has been welcomed by the SNP. The ICM poll today (Tuesday) adds to growing opposition to the renewal of Trident.

The SNP has consistently opposed the presence of nuclear weapons on Scotland 's shores and has condemned UK Government plans to replace Trident. The Scottish Parliament, a majority of Scottish MPs and the Scottish Government are all opposed to current plans to replace Trident with new nuclear weapons.

Trident renewal must not be excluded from the Strategic Defence Review and further spending on the project should be ruled out pending the planned assessment of defence needs and the 30-nation nuclear non-proliferation summit scheduled in Washington next March.

SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson MP said:

“The tide has turned on Trident, and Gordon Brown is going to have to accept that the renewal of this nuclear system is untenable.

“Any way you look at it - on moral, economic or political grounds - time is up for Trident.

“People struggle to understand, at a time when budgets are tight across the armed forces and Scotland faces a £500 million budget cut from London , why the UK Government is ploughing billions of pounds into a new generation of unwanted and unnecessary nuclear weapons.

“Ministers have announced a strategic defence review, and it is not credible to exclude a debate on the Trident replacement programme from that audit. It is totally untenable for Gordon Brown to exclude Trident from the Strategic Defence Review as some sacred cow.

“In the last week we have seen an agreement on nuclear disarmament between the United State and Russia and the announcement of a non-proliferation summit next March. For all these reasons the Prime Minister must rule out further decisions and spending commitments on the renewal of Trident due to be signed off by Ministers in the coming months.

“Civil society, trade unions, religious organisations the Scottish Government, are working together to keep a new generation of Trident missiles out of our waters – even military leaders openly question the affordability and rationale of these weapons, and this poll shows that the tide has well and truly turned.”

Greens on 15% overtake Liberal Democrats

A poll to be published the day before the European elections suggests the battle for third place will be between the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP.

In the new poll, conducted by ComRes, the Greens have overtaken the Lib Dems for the first time since 1989. The poll suggests the Greens may be about to match their historic 1989 Euro-election vote of 15%.

The poll shows support for the different parties as follows:

Conservative: 24%

Labour: 22%

UKIP: 17%

Green: 15%

Lib Dems: 14%

BNP 2%

If the poll proves accurate, the Greens will probably win seats in the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West and Eastern regions plus Scotland, as well as holding existing seats in London and the South East. The Greens may even scoop up a second seat in the South East, with Brighton councillor Keith Taylor joining party leader Caroline Lucas, who was first elected in 1999.

Last Sunday's Telegraph/ICM poll showed the Greens on 11%, ahead of UKIP nationally for the first time in the campaign. The Sunday Telegraph suggested that "the resurgent Greens" might win eight seats.

And in an earlier Green Party/YouGov poll, 34% of respondents said they would either definitely vote Green or consider voting Green if they knew more about the party.

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, said: "It's not all protest vote. I think our manifesto for a million jobs, aimed at tackling the recession and the climate crisis at the same time, has probably struck a chord with a lot of people."

"In the last few days of the campaign we need to work hard to mobilise the Green vote, because in a proportional election every vote counts. A 15% Green vote would mean a half-dozen or more extra Green MEPs to go and fight for those million jobs in the Green New Deal."

Buoyant Greens launch last big push

Green Party campaigners will be be pulling out all the stops this week, encouraged by today's Sunday Telegraph/ICM poll which puts the Greens on 11% - ahead of UKIP nationally for the first time this campaign.

With 11%, the Greens would expect to return two or three new MEPs, as well as holding their existing seats in London and the South East.

In the county elections, the Greens remain confident of gains in Norfolk and Lancashire, capitalising on the strength of city council Green groups in Norwich and Lancaster. But in the South West, Devon Greens may be about to bring off a surprise result, a party spokesperson said today.

Poll shows Greens "least likely to put self-interest first"

The Greens have been further encouraged by a YouGov poll last Friday which indicated that Green politicians were by far the most highly trusted to put their country before their own financial interests. This, say the Greens, suggests that a significant proportion of any anti-sleaze protest vote would go to the Green Party.

"Vote for a million Green jobs"

With a UN think-tank this week warning that climate change is already killing 300,000 people a year, and costing the world $125bn a year, the Greens will be reinforcing the main message of their 2009 campaign - Vote Green for a million UK jobs, to tackle the recession and the climate crisis at the same time.

Green Party battlebus in North West, South East this week

The party's campaign bus began its tour of the North West target region today. On Wednesday, the final day of the campaign, it will take party leader Caroline Lucas MEP on the last leg of her South East constituency tour.

Stopping the BNP leader - one of the historic results of the 2009 campaign

Despite much media speculation - not least by the BBC - that disillusioned voters may vote for the racist BNP, the Greens have consistently oupolled the racist party. With Respect having withdrawn from the North West election and endorsed the Greens against the BNP, and Libertas' top North West candidate having done the same, the anti-racist coalition built by the North West Greens appears to have been successful. Green Party candidate Peter Cranie looks set to deny BNP leader Nick Griffin the eighth and last seat in the North West.

The Greens say that the election of Nick Griffin would constitute the biggest step forward for the far right in British history - and preventing this would be one of the most historically significant outcomes of the 2009 campaign.