Author Archives: Kevin White

Members call for Defence and Disarmament Working Group

By Kevin White | Thu 3rd June 2021 - 12:47 pm

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The Federal Policy Committee will soon be meeting to discuss the establishment of new policy working groups. A petition has been submitted by 104 party members calling for the setting up of a working group on Defence and Disarmament issues.

Here is what it says:

We urge the FPC to recognise that since the party Conference last discussed issues related to nuclear weapons in 2017 the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been ratified and come into force. In addition, the UK Government is thought to have broken the nuclear non-proliferation treaty by deciding to increase the number of Trident warheads on its nuclear submarines (see Early Day Motion jointly sponsored by Wera Hobhouse MP). We consider that in the light of these events, changes in governments worldwide, IT developments, and the Covid pandemic, the establishment of a party policy working group to consider developing new and responsive policy on defence and disarmament issues is now urgently required. We further believe that the findings of such a working group should be presented to party Conference at the earliest possible opportunity.       

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 16 Comments

Why Lib Dem Conference should debate UN Nuclear Weapons treaty

By Kevin White | Wed 11th July 2018 - 12:30 pm

This coming Saturday the Federal Conference Committee will meet to choose motions for inclusion on the Agenda for Autumn Conference. Earlier this year a motion was submitted for Spring Conference signed by 137 members calling for the UK to Sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. FCC chose not to include it on the Agenda then. It has been submitted again, this time with 157 members supporting it :

SIGN THE UN TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Conference notes that

(a) in July 2017 the United Nations voted on and approved the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 31 Comments

Nuclear weapons policy: the zero option

By Kevin White | Tue 30th August 2016 - 2:21 pm

Members of the Nuclear Weapons Working Group are presenting their personal views as part of a wider consultation process into the party’s future policy on nuclear weapons. The full consultation paper can be found at www.libdems.org.uk/autumn-conference-16-policypapers and the consultation window runs until 28 October. Party members are invited to attend the consultation session at party conference in Brighton, to be held on Saturday 17 September at 1pm in the Balmoral Room of the Hilton.

1945, August 6, 8.15am. Slicing through the clear blue sky, a previously unknown “absolute evil” is unleashed on Hiroshima instantly searing the entire city, Koreans, Chinese, Southeast Asians, American prisoners of war, children, the elderly and other innocent people are slaughtered. By the end of the year 140,000 are dead.
Witness, a boy of 17: “Charred corpses blocked the road. An eerie stench filled my nose. A sea of fire spread as far as I could see. Hiroshima was a living hell

Witness, a girl of 18: “I was covered in blood. Around me were people with skin flayed from their backs hanging all the way to their feet – crying, screaming, begging for water”.

– Taken from the Peace declaration of the City of Hiroshima’s Mayor.

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Posted in Op-eds | 20 Comments

Opinion: Time to debate Trident

By Kevin White | Fri 10th July 2015 - 8:55 am

TridentThe Lib Dems Against Trident group was formed on Facebook at the end of October. Its objective is to get a motion on Trident onto the Agenda for September’s Party Conference. It currently has some 450 members. This is a quite remarkable tally for a Party Facebook group on one issue, and leaves one wondering how much support there is in the Party as a whole for scrapping Trident.

The group began by discussing the possible format of a motion. It eventually voted to promote the following motion:

“Conference notes that the go-ahead for building Successor submarines for the Trident system is scheduled to be decided upon in 2016.

Conference believes that British possession of nuclear weapons is inappropriate and unhelpful to today’s needs.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 28 Comments
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