I won’t be voting for Labour in this year’s general election due to their stance on nuclear weapons.
In an article published in the Daily Mail, Keir Starmer reaffirmed Labour’s commitment to nuclear weapons saying that “he would be willing to press the button and use nuclear weapons to defend the UK – in stark contrast to Mr Corbyn“.
Nuclear weapons do not provide any means of defence. A system like Trident exists only to commit genocide as revenge when the policy of nuclear deterrence fails.
While nuclear war gets less attention since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there are still over ten thousand warheads controlled by nine different nations, with the possibility of more countries gaining nuclear weapons in future. This is an increasingly unsafe situation, since even a ‘limited’ nuclear war could kill billions.
Annie Jacobsen’s recent book Nuclear War: A Scenario brought home to me how brutal and appalling a nuclear attack can be – as well as how easily responses can escalate. Given the number of near-misses our luck is going to run out eventually – particularly given that much of the nuclear infrastructure is based on the assumptions of the 1950s.
We need to deal with the danger these systems pose, and it needs to be done urgently. Instead, Labour are promoting Keir Starmer as eager to use nuclear weapons. I cannot support that.