Jeremy: I’ll scrap Trident regardless
JEREMY CORBYN has vowed to push ahead with his plan to scrap Trident – despite his own conference voting to support Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
The veteran anti-nuclear campaigner said yesterday his huge victory in the leadership election gave him the ‘mandate’ to impose the policy on his party. He said he would drive through his position despite being humiliated on Sunday when delegates rejected his call to hold a debate on whether to overturn years of Labour support for Trident submarines.
The issue exposes huge splits at the top of the party, with some Shadow Cabinet members – including leadership candidate Andy Burnham – pledging to resign if the axing of our independent nuclear deterrent becomes Labour policy.
Similar divisions are set to be aired today, when the conference debates an emergency motion opposing any air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria.
While Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn says he will support effective action on Syria, shadow aid secretary Diane Abbott is opposed to air strikes.
David Cameron is set to put the issue to a vote in the coming weeks, and the Labour conference will today debate a motion laying down strict conditions before the party will back any move to bomb IS strongholds.
Mr Corbyn yesterday repeated his view that he supports a diplomatic solution to the Syrian civil war – saying the answer cannot be found in ‘a few more bombs’.
The new Labour leader’s willingness to ignore his party on Trident comes despite his pledge to bring in a new style of politics where decisions are made by members rather than leaders.
Last week he had claimed that a ‘majority’ of Labour delegates wanted to discuss Britain’s nuclear deterrent. But conference delegates voted to support Trident, backing a paragraph in the party’s National Policy Forum report stating Labour’s ‘commitment to a minimum, credible, independent nuclear capability, delivered through a continuous at-sea deterrent’.
A party spokesman said the ‘ whole document was approved’ and as such
‘I believe I have a mandate’
is now ‘ party policy’. Despite the setback, Mr Corbyn used his speech yesterday to say he would press ahead with his opposition, emboldened by his stunning success in the leadership election.
‘Today we face very different threats from the time of the Cold War which ended 30 years ago,’ he said.
‘That’s why I have asked our Shadow Defence Secretary, Maria Eagle, to lead a debate and review about how we deliver that strong, modern effective protection for the people of Britain.
‘I’ve made my own position on one issue clear. And I believe I have a mandate from my election on it.
‘I don’t believe £100 billion on a new generation of nuclear weapons taking up a quarter of our defence budget is the right way forward. I believe Britain should honour our obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty and lead in making progress on international nuclear disarmament.’
Delegates will today discuss another divisive issue – whether the party should support Mr Cameron’s demand for military action against IS in Syria.
Mr Corbyn said the party needed to ‘learn the lessons of the recent past’ on foreign policy. He attacked the 2003 Iraq War, although he did not offer an apology on behalf of the party as had been expected earlier in the week.
He added: ‘It didn’t help our national security when we went to war with Iraq in defiance of the United Nations and on a false prospectus. It didn’t help our national security to endure the loss of hundreds of brave British soldiers in that war while making no proper preparation for what to do after the fall of the regime.’
Mr Corbyn called on the Prime Minister to follow President Obama’s example in reaching a deal with Iran by pressing for a diplomatic solution in Syria. ‘The answer to this complex and tragic conflict can’t simply be found in a few more bombs,’ he said.