THOSE who oppose nuclear weapons will have allowed themselves a little moment of hope on Saturday when Jeremy Corbyn was elected.
There is a small chance we could see the £100 million renewal of Trident scrapped. We are, at least, one step closer to seeing that happen than we were on Friday.
Corbyn, a committed CND-er, has been campaigning against nuclear weapons for the last 50 years.
Because renewal of Trident was suggested by Tony Blair and supported by Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband when they took charge of the party, you may think the party support the weapons.
Here there has often been a difference of opinion between the Labour leadership and the party.
When Labour put the renewal of the submarines to Parliament in March 2007, 89 Labour MPs voted against their own government. Four members of the government resigned their position so that they could vote against it.
There will be another vote on nuclear weapons early next year.
The SNP’s 56 MPs will all vote against, as will the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. There will likely be Tory backbenchers who will also rebel and vote against their party.
Let’s hope Corbyn can survive his party. If he does, perhaps the UK could take a significant step in the long, arduous process of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
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