THE Labour party are causing a stir on social media with an advertisement firing into the Liberal Democrats over their policies on nuclear weapons and drug decriminalisation.
The ad claimed that the LibDems want to “legalise drugs and soften punishments” and “get rid of Britain’s nuclear weapons”.
A screenshot of the Facebook ad was posted to Twitter where it was met with a harsh response.
Former Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: “This is f****ing shameful for The Labour Party - whoever sanctioned this should be utterly ashamed - people are dying from drugs misuse in record numbers and we have the threat of nuclear war and this is their response NOT IN MY NAME @Keir_Starmer”
This is fucking shameful for the The Labour Party - whoever sanctioned this should be utterly ashamed - people are dying from drugs misuse in record numbers and we have the threat of nuclear war and this is their response NOT IN MY NAME @Keir_Starmer pic.twitter.com/hmfwJfQ7Zu
— Neil Findlay (@Neilsocialist) April 28, 2022
Another user wrote: “This is a great way to get young people interested in the LibDems lol.”
This wasn’t the only ad run by Labour slating the LibDems on Facebook.
Labour ran a video with a headline from The Independent saying “All drugs should be decriminalised, say the LibDems” and a clip from a LibDem party conference speaker saying “you won’t find a single LibDem member who doesn’t want to see a nuclear weapons-free Britain.”
Labour are in favour of keeping the UK’s nuclear arsenal and having the nuclear sub-base at Faslane near Helensburgh in Scotland.
While defence and the preservation of nuclear weapons in the UK is a reserved matter for Westminster, the SNP and Scottish Greens have long advocated for the removal of nuclear weapons from Scottish shores.
Commenting on the ads, vice-chair of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said: "It's important – and the attack ad is a useful reminder – to be aware that the Labour party is not any real opposition to Boris and his increased numbers of nuclear warheads being trundled between Aldermaston and the nuclear weapons base and store at Faslane and Coulport respectively.
"The Labour party introduced nuclear weapons possession to the UK in the first place, and made the decision to renew the Trident system when they were last in power. It's important to be clear about this, given that so many Labour party candidates and elected representatives in Scotland are struggling with the policy.
"Given that the Treaty on The Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons has now entered into force with 60 countries meeting in Vienna next month to start hammering out its nuts and bolts and is already impacting on the UK Government’s plans, with major financial divestment, climate implications and a changing norm about global understanding of what is acceptable and safe, so surely they should be waking up to smell the coffee. The world shudders and hold its breath as the Russian invasion of Ukraine shows us all that ‘nuclear deterrence’ is a failed concept, and the only good news is that unbeknownst to the worldwide nuclear disarmament community, the Lib Dems have joined CND."
