Youth minister proposed after services suffer
LABOUR SHOULD change its policy to renew the UK’s nuclear deterrent, the Shadow Defence Minister has claimed.
Leeds North East MP Fabian Hamilton recalled voting against Trident renewal with almost 50 colleagues, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in July 2016.
He said those who opposed the motion were left “pretty angry” about the way Prime Minister Theresa May brought the Commons vote, which highlighted splits in the opposition.
Mr Hamilton told a fringe event at the Labour conference in Brighton: “The majority of Labour MPs voted to renew Trident.
“It’s party policy. I think we need to change but that’s my personal view, that’s not the frontbench view.”
Last year’s Commons vote saw MPs back the replacement of the existing submarine fleet carrying the missiles with four new Successor submarines.
Renewal of the submarines for the continuous-at-sea deterrent is predicted to cost £31bn, with a £10bn contingency fund also set aside.
The Labour Party’s official position on nuclear weapons has long been in favour of multilateral disarmament. However, the policy was thrown into doubt when Mr Corbyn was elected as leader in 2015.
The Islington North MP has campaigned against nuclear weapons throughout his career, and has repeatedly refused to state whether he would be willing to use Britain’s nuclear deterrent if elected as Prime Minister. Speaking during the election campaign, he said use of the weapon “would represent complete and cataclysmic failure”.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Hamilton also said the Foreign Office’s top diplomat Sir Simon McDonald has backed Labour’s proposal for a minister for peace and disarmament.
He said Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry was involved in a meeting with Sir Simon just days before the General Election, adding this was part of the routine process of civil servants and the Opposition discussing what would happen if they won.
Mr Hamilton, on when the idea was put to Sir Simon, said: “McDonald’s reply was ‘brilliant, that’s a really good idea’.”
The MP said this was because the Government has “sidelined” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the UK’s “soft power”, adding many of the nation’s diplomats want Britain to lead the world in de-escalating conflict. THE GOVERNMENT is being urged to appoint a youth affairs minister to help reverse the “systematic erosion” of services for young people.
Unite published a report at the Labour Party conference in Brighton showing youth and community services have been “seriously eroded” by austerity policies since 2010.
General Secretary Len McCluskey said: “Employers are engaged in a divide-and-rule exercise which feeds ‘a race to the bottom’ and increasingly imposed a ‘one size fits all’ culture on the sector.”
Unite also wants a parliamentary bill to place legal duties on local authorities to provide a professional youth service and consult young people on changes, such as cuts and removal of services. Unite national officer for youth workers, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, said there had been a “systematic erosion” of services.