Against Trident - physical and legal blockades
Scottish Greens are proposing a new law for the party’s Holyrood 2007 manifesto which would ban the use of Scotland’s roads and inshore waters to move weapons of mass destruction, making it impossible to base Trident in the country. Greens also point out that it is incumbent on the Executive to ensure that international law is upheld on Scottish soil. A legal opinion, by none other than Cherie Blair’s legal firm Matrix Chambers, says that to replace or renew Trident will be a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Caroline Lucas MEP addressed tens of thousands of demonstrators at a central London national Stop the War rally. She called on the Government to scrap plans to replace Trident and withdraw UK troops from Iraq. A film of Caroline speaking can be seen at www.youtube.com
Thousand call for closure of arms marketing unit
Over 10,000 people recently called for the closure of the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), a Government unit which exists to find sales for private arms companies. The demonstration and petition follow months of increasing criticism of DESO over its role in the sale of arms to despotic regimes, including BAE Systems’ recent deals with Saudi Arabia.
BAE profits at taxpayers expense
As BAE Systems announced record profits, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) pointed out that they were possible only because of Government subsidies for the arms trade. CAAT repeated its call for the Government to end its practice of spending £900million per year subsidising arms exports. BAE Systems is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for alleged corruption in Chile, Czech Republic, Qatar, Romania, South Africa and Tanzania. An investigation into BAE Systems for alleged corruption in Saudi Arabia was suspended on 14th December 2006. BAE has denied all allegations of corruption.
London Greens select Mayor and Assembly candidates
Principal Speaker Siân Berry has been selected to be the party’s prospective candidate for Mayor of London next year in a ballot of all party members in the capital. The existing Green members of the London Assembly, Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson, won the top two places for the list for the 2008 Assembly election, followed by Noel Lynch, Siân Berry, Shane Collins, and Laura Davenport.
Siân Berry
Jenny Jones
Darren Johnson
Extension of the congestion charge
Welcoming the extension of the Congestion Charge to west London, Green Party London Assembly member Darren Johnson has predicted that road pricing will be tried out across the whole of London within a few years. Transport for London are due to hear in July whether the Government has accepted their bid for funding of a road pricing pilot, through the Transport Innovation Fund.
Protecting the Firth of Forth from oil spills
Scottish Greens have uncovered the fact that that the company planning to carry out ship to ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth was responsible for spilling around 35,000 gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico - but failed to disclose the information when providing official evidence to Parliament. The Scottish Green Party is trying to prevent ship to ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth because of the danger of oil-spillage.
