Voters want Trident scrapped
By Liz Stephens
An independent poll of voters has revealed that more than half are now in favour of scrapping nuclear weapons.
The results, published in The Guardian newspaper today, mark a U-turn in public opinion.
Worries about the levels of public spending and the impact of defence cutbacks on troops in Afghanistan may be behind the change of heart.
Retired defence chiefs recently suggested that the £20 billion cost of replacing Trident would be better spent on conventional forces.
For decades, voters were assumed to favour continued investment in nuclear weapons with disarmament seen as a minority issue of the far-left. As recently as 2006, a similar poll showed over half the population supporting nuclear weapons.
However today’s poll showed that 54 per cent of voters would prefer not to put money into a new generation of Trident warheads. This figure includes 41 per cent of Tory voters.
America and Russia recently agreed to significantly reduce their own weapons stockpiles and last week’s G8 summit brought suggestions that Britain might include Trident in international disarmament talks.
However, in 2006 Gordon Brown reaffirmed Britain’s commitment to Trident, and the government won Commons backing, thanks to Tory support.
A design contract for the warheads is due to be signed during the parliamentary recess, and the nuclear weapons were excluded from the defence review announced last week.
The poll also shows more than two-thirds of voters want spending to be cut, double the proportion who believe the government should increase expenditure. This figure includes a majority of Labour voters.
According to the poll, the Conservative party has extended its lead over Labour to 14 points and is now on 41 per cent. The Liberal Democrats also gained two points in the poll as minority and independent party support fades after the European elections.
