Theresa May: Ditching Trident would be a “reckless gamble”

Trident - credit: Dods

Prime Minister Theresa May has warned that ditching Britain’s nuclear deterrent would be a “reckless gamble”, ahead of a House of Commons vote on the Trident missile system.

May will open the debate this afternoon, making her first appearance at the despatch box since entering No 10.

She will say that the nuclear threat has “not gone away, if anything, it has increased”.

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Labour is split three ways on the issue, as Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to vote against Labour’s policy of backing Trident renewal, key figures in the Shadow Cabinet will abstain, while the bulk of MPs are expected to vote in favour of the motion.

Meanwhile the SNP urged May to delay the vote, with Angus Robertson warning that “having spent the best part of a month engaged in backstabbing, score-settling and navel-gazing, neither the Tories nor Labour are in any fit state to be giving proper scrutiny to decisions as important as this”.

The question to be put to MPs is whether they support replacing the current Vanguard submarines which carry the Trident warheads with four new Successor submarines – a programme that is currently estimated to cost £31bn with a £10bn contingency.

According to The Times, new Chancellor Philip Hammond wants to make sure the Treasury takes a role in the project to stop costs spiralling out of control.

The vote itself is not binding, but the Government has pledged previously to seek the consent of MPs about renewal.

May, who stressed the importance of a swift vote on Trident when she was running for the Conservative leadership, will argue it would be “gross irresponsibility” for the UK to give up its nuclear deterrent.

“It is impossible to say for certain that no extreme threats will emerge in the next 30 or 40 years to threaten our security and way of life,” she will say.

“And it would be a gross irresponsibility to lose the ability to meet such threats by discarding the ultimate insurance against those risks in the future.

“Once nuclear weapons have been given up it is almost impossible to get them back – and the process of creating a new deterrent may take decades."

She will add: “We cannot compromise on our national security. We cannot outsource the grave responsibility we shoulder for keeping our people safe. And we cannot abandon our ultimate safeguard out of misplaced idealism.

“That would be a reckless gamble: a gamble that would enfeeble our allies and embolden our enemies. A gamble with the safety and security of families in Britain that we must never be prepared to take.”

Labour MPs will not be whipped on the vote, leaving them to free to vote how they wish.

The existing party policy remains in favour of renewing Trident as a review set up by Corbyn, a longstanding unilateralist, is yet to report.

The Labour leader told the Guardian he would vote against the Government’s motion – and Labour policy – today: “I will be voting against continuous at-sea deterrent, because it rules out any compliance with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“I’ve been involved in peace transformation all of my life, and I think we’ve got an opportunity to show leadership in the world.”

The stance differs from the one put forward by Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis, two of Corbyn’s allies who serve as Shadow Foreign Secretary and Shadow Defence Secretary respectively.

The MPs, who are both proponents of unilateral disarmament, wrote in a comment piece for the Guardian that today’s debate was “shameful game playing” and pledged to abstain.

Robertson said: “It would be both morally and economically indefensible for the UK Government to commit to spending hundreds of billions of pounds on weapons of mass destruction – even more so at a time when they are cutting funding for public services.

“The enormous cost of Trident appears to be spiralling out of control – before MPs can come to an informed view, they must have access to full costs across the lifetime of the programme. 

“As we have just seen in the EU referendum, promises and assurances given before a crucial vote can begin to unravel almost the moment that the decision has been taken.”