Left threat to defence industry
A LEADING member of Jeremy Corbyn’s top team has indicated a Labour government would dismantle Britain’s £4.8billion defence industry, putting 140,000 jobs at risk.
Shadow foreign minister Fabian Hamilton told a CND conference this month Britain has “no business exporting weapons”.
He said: “If we want to defend our nation we’ll need weapons to do that. You need to defend yourself. But do we have any business exporting those weapons? And in my opinion no we don’t.”
He said the comments were simply his opinion but
‘No to export of weapons’
they have played into fears that Mr Corbyn is planning a ban on weapons exports.
Mr Corbyn was a leading member of CND as well as founder and chairman of the Stop the War coalition.
Both organisations have long campaigned for Britain to dismantle its ability to defend itself.
Since becoming Labour leader he has pushed for individual bans on exports, notably to Israel and Saudi Arabia, both British allies.
Just days after Hamilton’s comments, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said “there should be a question” over selling arms to Israel. Any such ban might also include the EU and US.