DUTY TO PROTECT THE UK

On the eve of Commons vote on Trident’s future...

LIKE every post-war Prime Minister before her, one of Theresa May’s first tasks on entering office last week was a sobering one. On assuming charge, a new Prime Minister must write four identical ‘letters of last resort’, to be placed in a locked safe in each of our nuclear-armed submarines, only to be opened should the Government and chain of command be totally destroyed by nuclear attack.

The letters contain the Prime Minister’s instructions on what course of action the submarine commanders should take.

It is a reminder that, despite the end of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race that went with it, we still live in a nuclear age. It is a reminder that there are still more than 15,000 warheads in the world, many aimed at Europe; and that rogue nations, including North Korea, are seeking to arm themselves with more. The threat of nuclear conflict goes on.

Tomorrow, the House of Commons will vote on whether or not to replace our four nuclear-armed submarines, based at HMNB Clyde, to ensure Britain has a continuous at-sea deterrent for the next few decades.

My firm belief is that we are right to do so – for our own security and for the security of the world. In the wake of yet another terrorist massacre in Nice on Thursday, and the attempted coup in Turkey, some will say that the nature of the threats that face us have changed and that a nuclear deterrent is outdated.

I respect that view. But I believe that in a world in which nuclear bombs cannot be uninvented, Trident protects us and our allies against the most dangerous enemy of all: the unknown.

These are the arguments in favour of renewal. But I fear that when the SNP gets to work tomorrow, we in Scotland will be subjected to a very different kind of argument.

For the Nationalists, tomorrow’s vote is not really about global security. Nor is it about how best we keep the peace in an ever more uncertain world.

It is, for them, an opportunity to ramp up grievance against the UK Government. Its sole aim is to develop the trumped up claim that Scotland’s will is being ignored over the retention of Trident – all the better to stir resentment.

If you doubt this, ask yourself this: would the SNP’s fury over Trident be so vehement if it was based in Milford Haven or Portsmouth? The answer is no. It isn’t so much the arguments over nuclear weapons that stirs the SNP’s synthetic rage, it’s the fact that they’re here and they can use them as a stick to beat others.

I am confident we can face this argument down tomorrow; and in the coming years. The SNP may not want to acknowledge it but, according to the polls, more people in Scotland favour retaining Trident if other nations are keeping theirs. Most people, in other words, are multilateralists and want to see nuclear warheads reduced and ultimately wiped out in a safe and secure way. So when the SNP claims Scotland stands united in opposition to renewing Trident, it is simply not true.

So yes, I am confident – but less confident than I once was. And the reason is summed up in one word: Labour.

The Labour Party has a proud tradition of backing a strong British defence over the past 60 years. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it was Labour Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin who insisted that – in the new age of nuclear weapons – Britain should have them.

The party has had many deep divisions since over the issue but, for most of recent history, has remained dedicated to keeping the ultimate deterrent. In the past 12 months, however, we have seen that record trashed.

At Westminster, according to what’s left of its front bench, the party will offer a free vote to MPs tomorrow. Too weak even to whip its MPs to accept one single position, the Jeremy Corbyn party is instead preparing to wash its hands of a matter of vital national importance.

It is even worse here in Scotland, where the party has gone further – voting to oppose Trident renewal, even though party leader Kezia Dugdale says she supports a multilateral approach. Where is the leadership?

Not surprisingly, many union leaders are appalled. Describing Labour’s current stance as ‘self-indulgent’, the GMB’s Scotland secretary Gary Smith warned last week that it ‘cannot play fast and loose’ with the jobs and livelihoods of working-class communities.

He is right. The number of military and civilian jobs at Faslane is due to increase from 6,700 to 8,200. More jobs still will be created elsewhere in Scotland as construction of the new Successor class submarines gets under way. Yet all are deemed expendable by a Labour hierarchy which has become utterly detached from the very communities it was set up to serve.

At Holyrood and Westminster, this is a party that is now unfit for opposition, never mind government. In London, it has a leader with no authority and a party which lacks the strength to depose him. In Scotland, it appears to have decided to become an echo of the SNP; this week simply repeating the Nationalist playbook on Trident. Is anyone clear any more what Labour North or South of the Border stands for?

The Conservative in me should be able to sit back and enjoy this shambles: after all, so long as it continues, there is no prospect whatsoever of Labour ever getting back into power.

But the democrat and the Unionist in me feels uneasy. As one of our great major parties, which has historically supported the UK and a strong defence, falls to pieces, so our country’s fabric is weakened. Make no mistake, the SNP is licking its lips at the prospect of a divided and weakened Labour Party. It knows that if it can persuade the party’s faithful voters that independence is the only option left, then it is on the road to securing its dream of breaking up our country.

I am determined to ensure we provide a strong opposition to that threat. We will hold up Britain’s role in the world as a force for good. We will set out the practical, pragmatic benefits of our Union of nations. And we will call out the SNP over its spin and synthetic outrage.

That is the job that an opposition needs to do right now in Scotland. The question is: where is Labour?

Despite the end of the Cold War, we still live in a nuclear age