THE SNP have accused Labour of “moral bankruptcy,” saying leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray have betrayed their principles over Trident.
SNP proposals to scrap the renewal of Trident were heavily defeated in Parliament yesterday, as the Tories turned up numbers to vote. Some Labour members backed them, some abstained, and some voted for the proposals.
SNP defence spokesman Brendan O’Hara said their position on Trident was now an “omnishambles”.
“The debate was an opportunity – perhaps the last one before the Maingate ‘green light’ decision – to put the case against Trident renewal as the cost continues to soar,” he said.
“For Labour, today was a sign of their moral bankruptcy in the Trident debate. Astonishingly for a party that say they want to govern, some of their members abstained, some voted with the SNP and some even voted to support the Tory nuclear folly.
“Labour’s solitary Scottish MP Ian Murray abstained – despite voicing his opposition to Trident renewal. His leader Jeremy Corbyn also abstained – although he previously supported an identical SNP motion in January this year. This is just the latest evidence that Jeremy Corbyn isn’t changing Labour – Labour is changing him. The people of Scotland will be utterly baffled by this Labour omni-shambles on an issue that is so important.
“Every single MP who didn’t vote with the SNP today must answer the question: just how expensive must Trident renewal become before they are prepared to oppose it?”
Opening the debate for the SNP, O’Hara earlier argued the weapons were effectively meaningless, calling them a “hollow force”.
“To put that in a more colloquial way,” he said “we are acting as though we have a fur coat and nae knickers. Trident is a military and political ego trip paid for on the backs of the poor.”
On Monday, the Prime Minister admitted that the official cost of the new weapons had risen by £6 billion. The nuclear deterrent, O’Hara said, was an obscene waste of money that was a 20th century answer to a 20th century question.
“Trident is a purely political not a military weapon. It does not make us any more safe than nations that do not possess weapons of mass destruction. Trident is all about the UK projecting power. It is a desperate attempt to cling to the remnants of a fading imperial past, and is being paid for on the backs of the poor. Trident is diminishing the rest of the UK’s capability, and therefore there is no moral, economic or military case for renewing it.”
Tory Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said there was no real alternative.
“We commissioned the Trident alternatives review in 2013. Having looked at all the alternatives – non-submarine alternatives, other submarine alternatives, non-continuous deterrent – it demonstrated that no alternative system is as capable or cost-effective. If we accept that there is a threat – perhaps the SNP does not – that needs to be deterred, and if we accept that our enemies work nights and weekends, we must also accept that there can be no half-measures. A four-boat continuous at-sea posture is the minimum way to offer the security we need.”
There was an unusual moment during the debate when one of the pro-Trident Labour MPs, John Woodcock, referred to the SNP politicians in the chamber as ‘robots’.
Refusing to take an SNP intervention, Woodcock, said he “would have been happy to take every single one of you robots”.
SNP MP John Nicolson asked the deputy speaker if ‘robot’ was parliamentary language.
The deputy speaker decided it has been meant in this instance to refer to “a high-functioning intelligent robot and for the moment I will not call him to order.”
Earlier, Woodcock and his staff had left 200 hand-drawn submarine shaped cards around the House of Commons.
These cards, said Woodcock were “an eye-catching way of exploding the myths.”
Woodcock was one of the few Labour MPs to be in the chamber for the debate. Most followed leadership guidance to stay away, calling it an SNP stunt. Despite Corbyn supporting the scrapping of the nuclear submarines, there are many in his party who disagree. Labour thought it best to abstain rather than make those divisions public.
Tory MPs turned up en masse to vote, but largely stayed away from the debate.
In the end the SNP motion was defeated by 330 votes to 64. Six Labour MPs, including Dennis Skinner, voted with the SNP; 14 Labour MPs voted against.
The National view: A total lack of spine is why Labour support is haemorrhaging
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