Poverty and Trident Renewal

Trident and poverty.

Those of you who know me either personally or on Twitter etc will know that I'm a keen anti-poverty campaigner. My mantra is and has always been that POVERTY ISN'T INEVITABLE and to paraphrase Nelson Mandela "it like racism is man-made and can be/must be eradicated."

The idea of totally eradicating poverty may seem like pie in the sky to many. My arguement would be that setting a target on getting poverty down to 15% or 10% or 5% or even 1% would still be failing those people. They've been failed enough aleady.

Below is the opening paragraph from the Oxfam Wales page
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/cymru/poverty-in-wales

Poverty in Wales

Poverty in Wales isn't about drought, war or starvation - as it can be in developing countries - but it's every bit as real. 

Almost one in four people in Wales lives in poverty which means they get less than 60% of the average wage. That is about 700,000 of our fellow citizens. That level of relative poverty has remained unchanged for decade.

Below the opening paragraph from Save the Children
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/where-we-work/united-kingdom/wales

Wales

Almost one child in three lives in poverty in Wales. This is a higher proportion than in any other nation in the UK and equates to almost 200,000 children.

Both are obviously correct and equally alarming. Poverty is a stain upon our nation that we should all be ashamed of.

Below is information from the Estyn inspection to Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi in Holyhead.

The school’s catchment area includes four wards to which the Welsh Government
has granted Communities First status because of the high levels of economic and
social disadvantage. Nearly 40% of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas in
Wales.The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is 24%, which is higher
than the national average of 17.4%.


So what am I driving at? What can be done?

Everything! Recently MP's including the Labour MP for Ynys Mon voted FOR Trident reneweal. 472 - 117 voted in favour of wasting billions of poinds. Estimates vary but Greenpeace puts the cost of renewal at £34bn, while the government says it is closer to £20bn, and there are further costs involved in maintaining it. So there we are!

The biggest MYTH peddled about Trident is that it will keep us safe! WRONG.

In fact – across the armed forces – there are grave concerns that Britain’s nuclear weapons system neither addresses the real security threats facing Britain, nor represents value for money.
In a serious political intervention, Major General Patrick Cordingley, who led British forces in the first Gulf War, said:

‘Strategic nuclear weapons have no military use. It would seem the government wishes to replace Trident simply to remain a nuclear power alongside the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council. This is misguided and flies in the face of public opinion; we have more to offer than nuclear bombs.’

Read more here http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/06/tridents-outdated-waste-even-military-say-so

So there we have it. Rather than working to eradicate poverty. Rather than spending on helping to get people out of poverty. Rather than giving people the leg up they neeed. Rather than ensuring children don't come to school hungry. Rather than ensuring parents don't skip meals to feed their children. Rather than making sure people this winter don't have to chose between heating and eating. Rather than ALL that - MP's Labour and Tory would rather WASTE billions on weapons of death that won't be used.

C'mon people we can do better than this. to quote a true gent and politician - Tony Benn

'We have the best defended homeless people in the world' 


Imagine the difference spending 1% or even 10% of the money destined for Trident would make! Imagine what 100% would do!


I'm very proud and thankful that Plaid Cymru MP's along with other progressives opposed Trident renewal and supported the people.