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Salter's statement on trident
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“I have thought long and hard about the decision that MPs are being asked to take on Wednesday regarding replacing Trident and maintaining Britain's nuclear deterrent.
I have read the evidence including the government's White Paper 'The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent' and the report of the House of Commons Defence Committee. I have also considered carefully the representations that have been made by my constituents and other groups with an interest in this important issue. Whilst I have been extremely critical of the environmental impact of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston on neighbouring communities including my own constituency I have never argued for Britain to give up its nuclear deterrent during my time as a Member of Parliament nor as a Parliamentary Candidate for Reading West. "In fact I have fought three Parliamentary elections in 1997, 2001, and 2005 on a manifesto commitment to retain Britain’s nuclear deterrent. "Replacing the Trident Nuclear deterrent was never going to be an easy decision to make as we have to balance our duty to the security of the UK, with our duty to contribute towards global disarmament and non-proliferation. In the 2005 Manifesto the Labour Party confirmed that we are ‘committed to retaining the independent nuclear deterrent’. "This was a platform that all Labour MPs were elected on and in an unstable international political situation this is a position that I do not believe should change. None of us can accurately predict the global security environment over the next 20 to 50 years, or the potential for the emergence of a direct nuclear threat to the UK at some point in the future, from either an existing nuclear weapon state or a new nuclear weapon state. "I respect the strongly held views of those people who believe in unilateral nuclear disarmament. I also understand the concerns of some MPs who are not unilateralists but who remain unconvinced about the value of Trident as an appropriate weapons system for the future. "I hope the government will provide greater clarification on this point during the debate in the Commons on Wednesday. I will be voting for a motion to retain our nuclear capability in order to maintain the UK’s security whilst continuing to encourage multilateral negotiations towards arms reductions by all nuclear weapon states. In an increasingly dangerous and unstable world I cannot see the case for Britain to voluntarily give up its nuclear deterrent.” 13/03/07 |
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