LABOUR CHAIR EXPOSES PARTY ON TRIDENT CLAIMS.

LABOUR CHAIR EXPOSES PARTY ON TRIDENT CLAIMS.

CLAIMS NOT ONLY INVISIBLE WITH VOTERS BUT OUT OF TOUCH WITH PARTY MEMBERS.

Scottish Labour's party chair has exposed Labour leader Iain Gray and MSP Jackie Baillie's claims that there is a job benefit from Tridentsubmarines as completely false.

This week on Question Time Iain Gray repeated Jackie Baillie's claimthat Trident is good for employment. Labour's party Chair Claudia Beamish has authored a report exposing the wasteful cost of Tridentweapons and the significant economic boost that would be generated by spending the resources else where.Ms Beamish is an active member of SERA, Labour's environment campaign group which opposes nuclear power, and one of the authors of theSTUC/CND report which highlighted the negative impact of Trident on Scottish jobs.

Commenting SNP MSP Bill Kidd who this weekend is addressing a conference on nuclear proliferation at the United Nations said;

"The SNP know people across Scotland are concerned for their jobs and the future of the Scottish economy. That's why we are focussed onprotecting Scotland's jobs and supporting economic recovery."That's also why we share the disappointment of thousands of Scots with the UK Government's decision to cut vital investment inScotland's economy in favour of funding a new generation of nuclear weapons."

It is even more disappointing that Labour politicians continue to make wildly over blown and inaccurate claims over the impact of Tridenton employment, when the chair of the Labour party is the author of akey report exposing those claims and illustrating the economic benefitthat would come from scrapping Trident and investing in traditional military and civilian industries.“Claudia Beamish co-authored a ground breaking STUC report exposing thefallacy of Gray’s claims that nuclear weapons save Scottish jobs – infact investing the resources pumped into nuclear weapons into the realeconomy would create far more jobs.“While Iain Gray is preaching to Scotland on nuclear power and nuclear weapons that have been firmly rejected by Scotland's Parliament hisown party ha ve further embarrassed him electing an anti-nuclear chairat odds with Labour’s leadership.“Claudia Beamish is an active member of a party campaign group seekingto remove David Miliband from his position because of his support fornuclear power – a move that will embarrass not only Gray but theultra-nuclear Jim Murphy and even the Prime Minister.

“While Labour are at sixes and sevens the SNP know Scotland has whatit takes for a non-nuclear future with investment in renewables andgreen energy building both a new industry and a sustainable energysource, while the Parliament and the Scottish people are firmlyopposed to nuclear weapons on our shores.“Labour’s position is even more ridiculous as Scotland faces £500million of cuts to public investment while Labour is investingbillions in new nuclear weapons despite the US and Russia moving toward disarmament.

1. Claudia Beamish’s election as Scottish Labour chair and her connections with SERA can be read here:http://politicsforpeople.blogspot.com/2009/04/co-op-claudia-elected-chair-of-scottish.html

2. SERA’s contention with David Miliband over his support for nuclear power can be read here:http://www.robedwards.com/2007/04/labour_green_gr.html

3. The STUC's Trident report which highlights Claudia Beamish as ajoint-author can be accessed at the following links:http://stuc.siteiscentral.com/news/364/renewing-trident-will-cost-scotland-jobshttp://stuc.siteiscentral.com/files/STUC%20-%20CND%20Trident%20Report%202007/STUC-CND%20Trident%20Report.pdf

4. The YouGov poll, which was commissioned by the SNP and conductedfrom 21-22 April among 1,020 Scottish adults, resulted in the following results for party leaders in Scotland:Which one, if any, of the following Scottish political leaders do you think would make the best First Minister?

Alex Salmond: 36%

Annabel Goldie: 10%

Iain Gray: 7%

Tavish Scott: 4%

Patrick Harvie: 1%

None of these: 17%

Don’t know: 25%*

The poll also shows that among Labour voters, 25% back Alex Salmond– compared to only 20% support for Iain Gray.

* And among Lib Dem voters, 19% back Alex Salmond – compared to 18%for Tavish Scott.

* Wendy Alexander’s lowest ratings as the best candidate to be First Minister was 9 per cent in a YouGov poll in October 2007.