Addition: Faslane Wednesday vigil
Wed 20 Jul 2016 4:00pm – 5:00pm (possibly 6.00pm to allow for those coming after work)

Weekly vigil outside the Faslane Trident base – North Gate, Faslane – organised by Helensburgh CND, Faslane Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares
Come to show your concern for yesterday’s vote

 

Today is the day:

Today of course is when MPs will vote on whether we go ahead with a new nuclear weapons system. The vote is likely to take place at 10pm.
Nuclear weapons are not only immoral but also illegal under international law, as they kill innocent people indiscriminately.
A new nuclear weapons system would cost at least £205 billion, money which would be better spent on hospitals, homes or education.
The government itself declares that the current threats we face today are terrorism, climate change and cyber-attacks. Trident would be useless against these.
Developments in underwater drones will make nuclear submarines detectable and an easy target.  Come to the Edinburgh Protest:  Edinburgh Protest 6pm East end of Princes Street (Wellington Statue)

 

36 (or more) Trident No More demonstrations were held across Scotland today. 500 gathered at the Mound in Edinburgh.
More Protests against government plans to replace Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system, are set to take place across the UK on Monday.

Protests in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bristol, Nottingham and a number of other locations are timed to coincide with MPs debating a government motion on Trident replacement. Write to your MP: http://act.cnduk.org/lobby/StopTridentvote

There will also be an event at Faslane on Wednesday 4-6pm

CND has been campaigning hard against Trident, along with voices from across society, from trade unions to faith communities to military figures. Now we’re two days away from the final vote and we need you to support our emergency protests on Monday.

Campaigners say the £205 billion replacement scheme is a cold war relic and doesn’t address 21st century security threats.

Representatives from CND will hand in over 40,000 signatures collected for a ‘Stop Trident’ petition to the Ministry of Defence at 12 noon Monday (Today). And rally will take place outside Parliament from 6pm as MPs debate Trident inside Parliament. MPs opposing the government motion are expected to address the rally.

Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to break with this massively expensive yet redundant old technology and instead spend Britain’s valuable resources on meeting the security challenges we face today, like terrorism and climate change.

We must have an honest debate. Politicians, like defence secretary Michael Fallon, say Trident replacement will cost £31 billion. But this is the cost of replacing Trident submarines, just one part of the total cost of the new system.

In addition to the submarines there is a £10 billion contingency fund. Then there’s the missile extension programme (£350 million), replacement warheads (£4 billion), infrastructure capital costs (£4 billion), in service costs (£142 billion), conventional military forces directly assigned to support Trident (£1 billion), and decommissioning (£13 billion).

It is completely dishonest for the government to hold debate about Trident without telling the public the full cost.

For full costings, view the CND report which brings together the most up to date figures available in the public domain  http://www.cnduk.org/index.php option=com_k2&view=item&id=2447&Itemid=26

“We need our government and parliament to show the kind of vision and wisdom necessary in our rapidly changing political environment: to have the courage to abandon the totems of a bygone age and vote down these militarily useless weapons of destruction.”
In an open letter, world-renowned scientist Prof Stephen
Hawking joins other leading UK scientists and engineers to call on MPs to
vote against the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons systems in a
parliamentary vote scheduled for Monday 18th.
http://www.sgr.org.uk/resources/stephen-hawking-and-other-leading-scientists-urge-mps-vote-against-trident-renewal

And the Bishops of Scotland have called on the UK government to honour its commitment as a key signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferations Treaty (1968) and work towards the disposing and elimination of all nuclear weapons. In a statement, Scotland’s eight Catholic Bishops highlight the ‘immorality of the use of strategic nuclear weapons due to the indiscriminate destruction of innocent human life’ that their use would cause, and endorse Pope Francis who has said that “Spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations”.

After the demo:
Edinburgh Stop the War meets 7.30pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace on Monday 18th July

And the following day: Tuesday 19th July – Unpicking Prevent Workshop – organized by SACC and sponsored by Edinburgh Stop the War Come and unpick PREVENT with SACC on Tuesday 7.30pm @ Augustine church, Studio, Edinburgh
More details @ https://www.facebook.com/events/936912189768325/