20 October 2005 - Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has been elected to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s National Council for the second year in a row.

Dr Lucas, a veteran peace campaigner and co-founder and co-president of the European Parliament’s cross-party group on peace initiatives, said she was delighted to have been chosen to serve CND for another year.

“We are at a crucial moment in the future of the UK’s nuclear weapons as the Government considers whether to renew the existing Trident missile system, which is nearing the end of its ‘useful’ life. CND will be working hard to inform the public and policy-makers about the devastating cost, in human, legal and economic terms, of maintaining a nuclear arsenal.

“I have been a peace activist and supporter of CND for many years and I am delighted to be able to put the goals of the peace movement on the European parliamentary agenda.

“The EU must remain a force for peace and use its legal and political weight to prevent illegal nuclear weapons proliferation –by its own member states as well a countries such as Iran and North Korea. The EU’s would bring greater moral and political weight to its negotiations with Iran if it was itself free from nuclear weapons.”

Dr Lucas, an MEP for South-East England and Green Party Principal Speaker, was one of 15 national council members elected by delegates to CND’s annual conference in London this week. Kate Hudson was re-elected to CND’s chair.

CND is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.

ENDS