Corbyn to ‘educate’ Labour on Trident

Party leader’s vow on his first visit to Scotland

JEREMY Corbyn has promised to ‘educate’ his party on Trident in a clear sign he intends to win the debate on the nuclear deterrent.

The issue has created a damaging split in his party but he insisted it ‘could bring people together’, during his first visit to Scotland as Labour leader.

Trident-armed submarines support an estimated 11,000 jobs, both at Faslane on the Clyde and in the wider economy, and scrapping them would be devastating.

Scottish Labour leader Kezi a Dugdale – whom he met yesterday in Edinburgh – along with several UK shadow cabinet members, backs its renewal.

Still reeling from losing 40 out of 41 seats in the General Election, Scottish Labour will debate the issue at its next party con- ference, but Mr Corbyn indicated he believes he can win the debate.

‘There is a lot of opportunity here both for educating people and bringing them together,’ he said.

‘There’s also a lot of people in the military, often very high-ranking officers in all three services, who don’t necessarily go along with the idea that Trident replacement is a good idea.

‘They would rather see an emphasis on more conventional weaponry because the issues and threats and instabilities in the world are not necessarily state wars against each other. They are more often random acts of violence and terrorism.’

Mr Corbyn said the Scottish party was suffering a referendum ‘ hangover’ but would bounce back at the Holyrood elections next year.

However he failed to ease concerns that he will be a robust defender of the Union, with a half-hearted appeal to Nicola Sturgeon not to call another vote.

‘There’s two big ifs here – one is if there is a second referendum,’ he said. ‘There was a referendum a year ago, there was a pretty clear decision at the end of that referendum at the end of a very long, very exhaustive campaign. I wonder if it’s time to say well, that was supposed to be a generation decision.’

He added: ‘Obviously, if another referendum takes place then people will decide what they want to do.

Miss Dugdale put education at the heart of her campaign, saying: ‘The gap between the richest and the rest in our schools is holding our communities back.’