{"id":30294,"date":"2013-03-18T14:26:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T13:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/2013\/03\/18\/labour-trident-nuclear-_n_2901455.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics?ncid=GEP"},"modified":"2013-03-18T14:26:34","modified_gmt":"2013-03-18T13:26:34","slug":"could-labour-ditch-trident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/could-labour-ditch-trident\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Labour Ditch Trident?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Labour<\/a> are “open” to cheaper alternatives for the Trident nuclear deterrent but have stopped short of committing to ditch their long-standing commitment for a like-for-like replacement.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday morning, the Financial Times<\/em> reported senior Labour advisers<\/a> and MPs had indicated the Labour leader, Ed Miliband<\/a>, was backing the shift in position.<\/p>\n

Labour sources later clarified their position. Speaking to DefenceManagement, a spokesperson said: “The idea that Labour is moving away from Trident<\/a> is false.<\/p>\n

\"labour<\/p>\n

Trident has been the UK’s nuclear deterrent since 1994<\/strong><\/p>\n

“[Labour] will not compromise on having a credible nuclear deterrent.”<\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/strong>
Kevan Jones MP<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
BBC News – Labour ‘open’ to cheaper Trident alternatives http:\/\/t.co\/wiTwa8OyB5<\/a> am leading review, no conclusions reached yet.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tonly Blair committed the Labour Party to a like-for-like replacement back in 2006, a stance which has remained since.<\/p>\n

LIKE HUFFPOST UK POLITICS ON FACEBOOK<\/a> | FOLLOW US ON TWITTER<\/a><\/p>\n

Labour’s position on the issue is especially pertinent as a final decision on the future of the deterrent is not due until 2016, a year after the next general election.<\/p>\n

A Labour election victory would give them power of veto over any decisions made before then.<\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/strong>
Jim Murphy<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Re FT today. Labour will retain credible independent nuclear deterrent.Wl judge policy on capability and cost. Plus strong multilateralism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Labour is far from united on the issue.<\/p>\n

Des Browne, former Labour defence secretary said the deterrent places should be reconsidered “given the range of challenges<\/a> before us and the limited resources at our disposal”.<\/p>\n

Conversely, Labour Lord West said Trident is “too important to get wrong<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Trident currently operates with four Vanguard-class submarines. A like-for-like replacement will cost around \u00a325bilion and is the stated preference of the Conservatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other options could involve scaling back the size of Trident to three or even just two submarines.<\/p>\n

Critics of Trident<\/a> argue it is not relavent to the geo-political realties currently faced by the UK.<\/p>\n

Recent public opinion polls found that 63% would scrap Trident<\/a> in order to help pay off the deficit and only 22% support a like-for-like replacement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

Labour<\/a> are “open” to cheaper alternatives for the Trident nuclear deterrent but have stopped short of committing to ditch their long-standing commitment for a like-for-like replacement.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday morning, the Financial Times<\/em> reported senior Labour advisers<\/a> and MPs had indicated the Labour leader, Ed Miliband<\/a>, was backing the shift in position.<\/p>\n

Labour sources later clarified their position. Speaking to DefenceManagement, a spokesperson said: “The idea that Labour is moving away from Trident<\/a> is false.<\/p>\n

\"labour<\/p>\n

Trident has been the UK’s nuclear deterrent since 1994<\/strong><\/p>\n

“[Labour] will not compromise on having a credible nuclear deterrent.”<\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/strong>
Kevan Jones MP<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
BBC News – Labour ‘open’ to cheaper Trident alternatives http:\/\/t.co\/wiTwa8OyB5<\/a> am leading review, no conclusions reached yet.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tonly Blair committed the Labour Party to a like-for-like replacement back in 2006, a stance which has remained since.<\/p>\n

LIKE HUFFPOST UK POLITICS ON FACEBOOK<\/a> | FOLLOW US ON TWITTER<\/a><\/p>\n

Labour’s position on the issue is especially pertinent as a final decision on the future of the deterrent is not due until 2016, a year after the next general election.<\/p>\n

A Labour election victory would give them power of veto over any decisions made before then.<\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/strong>
Jim Murphy<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Re FT today. Labour will retain credible independent nuclear deterrent.Wl judge policy on capability and cost. Plus strong multilateralism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Labour is far from united on the issue.<\/p>\n

Des Browne, former Labour defence secretary said the deterrent places should be reconsidered “given the range of challenges<\/a> before us and the limited resources at our disposal”.<\/p>\n

Conversely, Labour Lord West said Trident is “too important to get wrong<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

Trident currently operates with four Vanguard-class submarines. A like-for-like replacement will cost around £25bilion and is the stated preference of the Conservatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other options could involve scaling back the size of Trident to three or even just two submarines.<\/p>\n

Critics of Trident<\/a> argue it is not relavent to the geo-political realties currently faced by the UK.<\/p>\n

Recent public opinion polls found that 63% would scrap Trident<\/a> in order to help pay off the deficit and only 22% support a like-for-like replacement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}