Labour Policy Watch: Defence and Disarmament

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Defence and Disarmament
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	The Tories considered themselves strong on defence and regularly backed new weapons developments by Britain or NATO as well as strong links with the US military including buying US weapons, hosting US bases, etc. They accepted the treaties which gave some stability to the cold war, including the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty, the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) which requires nuclear weapons states to negotiate their own nuclear disarmament and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), but refused to give an assurance not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. They also refused to accept the reality of Gulf War Syndrome, or investigate the health effects of depleted uranium (DU) and the costs of nuclear contamination around British bases.
	Labour policy was:
	1	To cut defence spending to the west European average
	2	To reduce our nuclear weapons stocks to a minimum and scrap the Trident submarine programme
	3	To work positively for international nuclear disarmament
	4	To establish a Defence Diversification Agency to help firms convert from defence to civilian production
	5	To support the ABM and other treaties and oppose the militarisation of space (?)
	6	To pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons
	7	To investigate the health effects of British military policy and compensate any victims (?)
	In fact under New Labour:
	1	The spending pledge was dropped and it is now (?)
	2	Britain's nuclear stocks have been reduced, but mainly by destroying obsolete weapons; the Trident programme was completed and is to be replaced by a new system
	3	We have resisted pressure to join any talks on international nuclear disarmament
	4	A DDA has been set up but is for using technology from defence in other industries, not for conversion
	5	We have not protested at US withdrawal from the ABM treaty or testing of subcritical nuclear weapons, and we support National Missile Defence (NMD) which would break (?) the Outer Space Treaty
	6	We have refused to make the no-first-use pledge, and appeared to threaten nuclear attacks on non-nuclear states
	7	We still deny that Gulf War syndrome exists (though US government advisers find it "probable") and victims have had their homes raided and information seized
	In addition:
		Britain voted against the International Court of Justice ruling that use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is illegal, (Was this under Labour?)
		Britain will give no details of its military training programme in Colombia, whose government troops collaborate with death squads and where most of the world's murders of trade unionists occur
		Ministers want to change international law to allow pre-emptive strikes
		We support licensing private mercenary companies and British mercenaries operate in Iraq and elsewhere
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