Four prospective Green Party Councillors for Nottingham City and Rushcliffe Council will take part in a peaceful blockade of Faslane nuclear base this weekend.  All four are students and members of the Young Greens Society at the University of Nottingham.

The blockading group as a whole is made up of people from different backgrounds and campaign groups from across Nottingham.  The blockade is part of an audacious campaign of non-violent direct action called Faslane 365.  The idea is an attempt to keep the facility blockaded for an entire year.

Andy Birkby, spokesperson for Nottingham's Young Green Party said, “There is no excuse for a country like the UK to still possess nuclear weapons, let alone be updating them.  The UK is one of the safest countries in the world, the only serious threat is terrorism, which Tony Blair himself admits Trident is useless against.  Nuclear weapons are more likely to encourage rather than discourage terrorism.  How can we expect a country in such a dangerous position as Iran to not develop nuclear weapons when we’re doing it ourselves?  It is not even an independent deterrent; America controls the guidance system and could abort a missile if we tried to fire it.  The Government’s plan to spend at least £25 billion on renewing the nuclear weapons system (and an estimate £76 billion over the lifetime of the weapons) demonstrates a lack of concern for the immediate problems the world faces today like climate change, widespread poverty and access to clean drinking water."

 He continued, "A future of nuclear warheads, with the ability to deliver around 8 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb, is not one that offers us real security."

Dr Caroline Lucas Green Party MEP has already been arrested twice at the nuclear base and been charged with breach of the peace, something she described as 'ironic' as she has consistently said that she intended exactly the opposite – to prevent a breach of the peace and a greater crime taking place.

Notes for editors:

Andy Black is a third year economics student, aged 22, and is standing is a Green Party candidate in Nottingham City.

Jacob Vincent is an electrical engineering student, aged 19, and is standing as a Green Party candidate in Nottingham City.

Edd Claringbold is a third year Zoology student, aged 21, and is standing in Nottingham City.

Andy Birkby is a third year economics student, aged 22, and is standing in Rushcliffe.

http://www.faslane365.org/nottingham
http://www.faslane365.org/
www.greenparty.org.uk/nottingham

http://nottingham.greenparty.org.uk/
 
Contact:

Andy Birkby
Mob: 07890 588 991

Jacob Vincent
Mob: 07802 000 332
 
Edd Claringbold
Mob: 07738 087 911

Andy Black
Mob: 07894 318 685