Jeremy Corbyn opposes nuclear weapons but he could not have the Labour Party conference debate the issue. Now his position has been given a new impetus by the Scottish Labour Party as they stated their opposition to the renewal of the Trident System, whose submarines are based in Scotland. 70 % of trade unionist and member delegates voted not to renew the weapon.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the BBC last september:
“This is a weapon of mass destruction, I want us to fulfil our obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation agreement and work towards disarmament.
“I also want to ringfence that money in engineering and defence diversification projects. People’s jobs are not at risk because of this, in fact the engineering employment base in this country would be stronger.”
CND [The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament] welcomes the decision taken by Scottish Labour today to oppose the replacement of Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system.
Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:
“Scottish Labour’s decision to oppose Trident replacement is another nail in the coffin of the UK’s nuclear weapons system. This decision means that 75% of people in Scotland voted for parties which oppose the nuclear weapons system hosted at Faslane and Coulport.”
“It is yet another sign that the cold war Labour-Tory consensus on nuclear weapons has been broken. Forward looking politicians are realising that what the public want are 21st century answers to the real security challenges we face, not well over £100bn spent on a cold war relic.”
“Jeremy Corbyn won an enormous mandate to lead the Labour Party in a new direction opposing nuclear weapons. His commitment to Defence Diversification has made much greater unity against Trident possible. Scottish Labour’s decision is a vote of confidence from the grassroots for this new direction.”
