Corbyn could scrap Trident for SNP deal

JEREMY CORBYN has refused to rule out scrapping Trident as the price for Labour going into coalition with the SNP.

The Labour leader suggested that as prime minister he would take a prominent role in the campaign for global disarmament, stating that would give “realism to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty”.

With recent polls indicating that the prospects of a Labour majority are vanishingly slim, Mr Corbyn will almost certainly need to strike a deal with Nicola Sturgeon to govern in the event of a hung parliament.

However, senior SNP sources have indicated that a second independence referendum and the removal of Trident nuclear weapons from Scotland will be central to the party’s demands.

Asked yesterday if he would be prepared to scrap Trident to reach an agreement, Mr Corbyn told the BBC’S Andrew Marr Show: “I think the SNP would actually agree with me, and in the past they certainly have, that the priority has to be giving realism to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Giving realism to the six-party talks in

Korea, giving realism to the whole question of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, in the Middle East or anywhere else.” Pressed again, he continued: “Well... obviously if you went into non-proliferation treaty discussions then clearly every country’s nuclear weapons go into that equation.”

Mr Corbyn, a lifelong campaigner for nuclear disarmament, added that the main threat currently facing the UK was “cyber security more than anything else”.

His comments were attacked by John Woodcock, the former Labour MP, who said: “It’s absurd to suggest he will continue to invest billions in it [Trident]when he’s rendered it useless as a deterrent on day one as PM.”

Mr Corbyn also appeared to cast doubt on Labour’s commitment to Nato, which he described when a backbench MP as an “instrument of Cold War manipulation”. Asked if he agreed with the Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, that it was the “most successful military alliance in history”, Mr Corbyn said: “I would define it as a product of an attempt to bring people together after the Second World War and that we are obviously members of Nato and our voice will be there.”