Trident vote set for early 2007
MPs will have a vote on whether to replace Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent early next year, Downing Street has confirmed.
The vote will follow a three-month consultation into the government’s preferred options for the future of Trident, to be published in a white paper in December.
Tony Blair yesterday repeated his personal support for replacing the nuclear system, which will reach the end of its lifespan in about 20 years. Ministers have said a decision must be taken now to ensure work on an alternative could begin in time.
And foreign secretary Margaret Beckett also refuted press reports that she was against replacement – which could cost up to £25 billion – and told MPs she backed retention.
The announcement of the timetable for the debate into Trident replacement comes after the cabinet held its first serious discussion on the matter this morning.
The issue of nuclear weapons has always been controversial but the rhetoric has been escalating in recent weeks. Yesterday, the bishop of Portsmouth said nuclear weapons were “uniquely destructive” and had failed to prevent wars breaking out worldwide.
Several Labour MPs have also pledged their opposition to Britain’s continuing ownership of nuclear weapons this week, backing claims by anti-nuclear campaigners Greenpeace and the CND that replacing Trident would breach the non-proliferation treaty.
During prime minister’s questions yesterday, Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell asked whether the Commons vote on Trident would be on “all the options available” and not just whether Britain should keep its nuclear deterrent.
Mr Blair replied: “I’m sure that there will be an opportunity to vote on the issue, of course there should be, but in the end I suspect this is going to be an issue, not so much of a process, but of where we stand on a particular issue.”
He made clear his support for replacing Trident, a position that has also been taken by Gordon Brown, the man expected to take over as the next prime minister.
The Conservatives also back replacing Trident – earlier this week former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind said nuclear weapons were an “insurance policy” – and therefore any vote in parliament is likely to go the government’s way.
But today Sir Menzies said: “I have written to the prime minister to emphasise that any vote on a Trident replacement should focus on the options available.
“We owe it to the British people and future generations to have a proper discussion.”
