THE SNP group at Westminster have offered their support to 79-year-old campaigning pensioner Brian Quail, who was thrown in jail for refusing to accept a court ban from protesting against nuclear weapons.
In a letter to the banged-up OAP, Patrick Grady, Quail’s MP and SNP chief whip, offers the ex-teacher the party’s “solidarity and support”.
Grady writes: “The Scottish National Party supports a nuclear-free Scotland, and has a long history of collaboration with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. I am one of many SNP members – including Nicola Sturgeon – who joined the CND before we joined the SNP.
"We have consistently understood the existence and threatened use of nuclear weapons to be morally repugnant, and the massive expenditure of public funds on the renewal of Trident to be unjustifiable in the face of national and global austerity and poverty.”
The Glasgow north politician adds: “As your local MP, I am of course ready to, and willing to, make any appropriate representations on your behalf to the relevant authorities regarding your experience of the justice system, and the ongoing campaign against the renewal of Trident and for Scottish and global disarmament. I look forward to discussing this with you soon.“ Grady has sent a similar letter to Angie Zelter, the 66-year-old Welsh activist who, like Quail, was arrested for their role in a five-person roadblock near Coulport, part of HM Naval Base Clyde.
The two both rejected bail conditions which would have required them to keep away from the military site until their court date in August. More than 3,500 people have signed a petition calling for their release from Low Moss and Cornton Vale prisons.
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