Being upfront about Trident

Several local people in the Banbury and Bicester areas have contacted me about the issue of replacing Trident. My party’s line can hardly be in any doubt for those of you who have watched or heard about the Prime Minsterial Debate between Nick Clegg and the others. We believe that a costly replacement for Trident can’t be justified in these times. That’s not just because, following the impact of the credit crunch, we should all be reviewing priorities; it’s also because we should be concentrating on ensuring an international reduction in nuclear stockpiles, not replenishing them. The argument is set out sensibly and forecefully in the Liberal Democrat manifesto.

I must say that I, personally, am proud of the position my party is taking and can assure you I would vote with my LibDem colleagues to stop this waste of money if I was to serve you as your next MP.

Of course, this was one of the few occasions in the Prime Ministerial Debate when the others did not return to their usual line of ‘I agree with Nick’! Both the old parties, the ‘Labservative’ alliance, want to take this issue as line of attack against the LibDems. I say: bring it on! It really does show how they are failing to move with the times or change when circumstances demand. A good Liberal, John Maynard Keynes, once said ‘When the facts change, I change my mind’. It’s a principle that the other parties seem not to want to learn.