MEP RISKS SECOND ARREST AT ANTI-TRIDENT PROTEST

GREEN Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas will risk arrest for the second time when she joins some 60 MPs, MEPs and councillors at a blockade of the Faslane base of Britain’s ‘Trident’ nuclear submarines. The elected representatives – from a range of green and left-leading political parties – will blockade the naval base as part of Faslane 365, a one year continuous peaceful demonstration against Britain’s arsenal of nuclear weapons of mass destruction.Dr Lucas, who is a co-founder and Co-President of the European Parliament’scross-party peace initiatives group of MEPs and a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s decision-making National Council, said:“Britain’s trident nuclear warheads are deadly weapons of mass destruction which cost billions and are completely irrelevant to global geo-politics today.”“Elected politicians from a wide range of parties are joining hands on Monday (January 8th) to blockade the Trident nuclear submarine base to show our collective opposition to this nuclear folly - and the Labour Government’s unlawful plans to replace and upgrade it,” she added. Dr Lucas is risking prison by returning to Faslane: during a peacefulsit-down outside the base in 2001 she was arrested for breaching the peace. Despite arguing that she intended exactly the opposite – to prevent a breach of the peace – she was convicted. An eventual appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was declared inadmissible in 2003.“Last month Tony Blair said he wanted to replace Britain’s nuclear arsenal but, in the face of strong parliamentary and public opposition, reduce itfrom 200 warheads to about 160: 1,280 times as much destructive power as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima rather than 1,600. This symbolic gesture will, of course, make little practical difference at all.”“There is simply no legal, moral, military or economic case for the Government to replace Trident. If the Government has billions to spend on protecting security, it shouldn’t gamble it on chasing Cold War shadows but listen to its own advisors and instead use the cash to tackle the real security threats we face today: terrorism and climate change.”She will be joined on Monday by fellow Green MEPs Jean Lambert (London), Luisa Morgantini (Italy), Gisela Kallenbach (Germany) and more than 30Westminster MPs, as well as member of the Welsh Assembly, ScottishParliament and local authorities across the UK.