GREENPEACE DELIVERS LOCAL TRIDENT PETITION

12.41.29pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 12th Mar 2007

Dr David Hubble hands over the petition to Chris Huhne MP

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne took delivery of a petition to stop a new generation of nuclear weapons signed by hundreds of local residents.

The petition was handed over by Dr David Hubble, the Hampshire Greenpeace representative. Greenpeace has been the prime organiser ahead of the vote this week in the House of Commons on a replacement for Trident.

Dr Hubble said: "Nearly 40 years ago, the UK Government signed an international treaty to eliminate its nuclear weapons. Today Tony Blair is planning to go in the opposite direction by rushing through plans to build new nuclear weapons to replace Trident".

Chris Huhne MP said: "I will be voting no to the replacement of Trident now, because I believe that the UK should lead multilateral attempts to cut nuclear weapons by offering to halve the number of our own warheads. The international situation is fundamentally different to the Cold War in which Trident was designed.

"There is no need to rush through a decision to replace the Trident system with a similar system: the Americans have no plans to replace Trident and this timetable is purely determined by the Prime Minister's insistence on leaving a legacy"