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Jeremy Corbyn sulla rottamazione del Trident: "Voglio che la Gran Bretagna realizzi un mondo libero dal nucleare. Portiamo la discussione e il dibattito là fuori. Voglio che i membri abbiano una grande voce sul tema. Sia che venga deciso come un voto di singoli membri, o come voto alla conferenza. Il mio programma elettorale si basava tutto sulla necessità per la gente comune di essere in grado di partecipare molto di più alla politica, in modo che i leader non scrivano la politica, in modo che i gruppi dirigenti non decidano cos’è la politica, dovrebbe farlo la gente comune." Corbyn ha anche aggiunto "vi è la necessità di un dibattito serio e intelligente sul ruolo che le armi nucleari giocano nel 21° secolo". http://nato.einnews.com http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ 13 Feb 2016
Former Labour defence chief George Robertson warns Jeremy Corbyn not to scrap Trident By Tim Ross Senior Political Correspondent
Former Labour defence secretary Lord Robertson warns his party’s radical stance on national security putting it at odds with voters and would damage its chances of winning the next election.
The security of the world would be at risk without Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons, the former head of Nato has warned in a direct attack on the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen said he would “fight” Mr Corbyn’s plan to ditch Labour’s support for the nuclear deterrent. He has already protested in person to the party leader's team. In a rare intervention in domestic politics, the former Cabinet minister warned that his party’s increasingly radical stance on national security was putting it at odds with voters and would damage Labour’s chances of winning the next election. Lord Robertson, who was defence secretary under Tony Blair, made his comments amid a deepening split in the Labour party over policy on nuclear weapons.
Mr Corbyn, a long-standing pacifist and campaigner for disarmament, has launched a review of defence policy. It will examine whether to withdraw support for renewing the UK’s four Trident-armed submarines. However, many of his shadow ministers have said they will resign rather than abandon their support for nuclear weapons. Lord Robertson’s intervention came as the US defence secretary, Ash Carter said Britain should continue to punch above its weight by keeping its Trident nuclear deterrent, according to the US defence secretary. Mr Carter said the nuclear-armed submarines are an "important part of the deterrent structure of Nato" and that it was crucial for the UK to maintain its "outsized" role in the world. Last week, Emily Thornberry, the shadow defence secretary, was heckled by MPs during a fiery meeting in Parliament after she asked her colleagues to keep an open mind on ditching Trident. Mr Corbyn even suggested in a recent television appearance that the party could keep its commitment to building the new submarines but not arm them with Trident nuclear missiles.
Lord Robertson, who served as Nato Secretary-General from 1999 to 2003, said he did not believe even Mr Corbyn could think submarines without missiles would be “a serious proposition”. “Either we have a deterrent or we don’t. It’s as simple as that,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph.
“It is part of the reason why we are safe in the world today. To continue with building the new submarines, which is what Trident renewal is about, is absolutely crucial to our role in Nato - and the safety of the world.” Lord Robertson said Labour must keep its current policy, which is “quite explicit” in supporting the full renewal of all four Vanguard-class submarines. These vessels are due to be taken out of service in the late 2020s. “The Labour Party policy on Trident is absolutely right," Lord Robertson said. “The leader is trying to change Labour Party policy but at the moment Labour is committed to the renewal of Trident and the building of four new submarines. “There is a review going on. I have spoken to Emily Thornberry. She has spoken to a number of other people who have all, as far as I know, told her the same thing. We will see what comes out of that review.”
He said he would not quit Labour if the party changed policy but would fight to ensure it maintained support for the deterrent. Lord Robertson recalled how he had been sacked by Michael Foot, then Labour leader, for refusing to support unilateral nuclear disarmament as a shadow defence spokesman in the 1980s. “I will fight to maintain the policy. I have been here before. I was a defence spokesman in 1981, shadow minster for the Navy, and got sacked. The whole defence team was sacked for not being unilateralists at that time.
“We fought to change the policy and I will continue to fight to keep the existing policy. I don’t intend to cede any ground to others who want to disrupt the existing policy, which makes sense.” Supporting the nuclear deterrent is also important for Labour’s hopes of regaining power, he said. Mr Corbyn’s stance on defence issues, which has included opposition to air strikes against Isil in Syria, is “not helpful”, Lord Robertson added. “To get out of sync with the electorate is hardly a useful way of winning the next election.”
A vote on the future of Trident in the Commons is expected to be held later this year. In the interview, Lord Robertson also warned that Britain would be “much weaker” if the country voted to leave the European Union at the forthcoming referendum. “Nato is the cornerstone of collective defence in Europe,” he said. “But the Nato-EU relationship is of vital importance because they bring together in security terms the defence side as well as economic development and other aspects of security. “The more European countries build up capabilities for doing things that they might have to do on their own, these assets are available to Nato as well. If we withdrew from the EU we would be outside of that particular circle and therefore much weaker as a consequence.” There is “huge value” in maintaining the UK’s membership of both the EU and Nato. “It (leaving the EU) would cede a huge amount of the political influence, which is part of our security, to France and Germany and countries that still remained inside the EU cooperating with each other.” The Ministry of Defence (MoD) estimates that acquiring four new submarines to carry the Trident deterrent will cost £31 billion over the course of the 20-year procurement programme, with a further £10 billion set aside to meet any additional unexpected cost increases. Mr Carter said that Trident enables Britain to "continue to play that outsized role on the global stage that it does because of its moral standing and its historical standing". "It's important that the military power matches that standing and so we're very supportive of it," he added. Mr Carter told the BBC: "We depend upon the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom depends on us, that's part of the special relationship. We build Joint Strike Fighters together, we build Trident missiles together."
Tom Watson, deputy leader: “I think the deterrent has kept the peace in the world for half a century and I hope we can have that debate in the party” Andy Burnham, shadow home secretary: "I would vote for the renewal of Trident. We always knew this was going to be a difficult decision for the party. There are two positions here that are difficult to reconcile, perhaps impossible to reconcile." Hilary Benn, shadow foreign secretary: "I think a British prime minister has to have that option” Maria Eagle, shadow culture secretary: “I don't think that a potential prime minister answering a question like that, in the way in which he did, is helpful” John McDonnell, shadow chancellor: "It’s ultimately a matter of principle about the morality of using nuclear weapons, which would cause such loss of life and destruction the planet" (March 2015)
What is Trident? It refers to the UK's fleet of Vanguard-class submarines carrying Trident II D-5 ballistic nuclear missiles, on Scotland's River Clyde. How long has it existed? Trident replaced the Polaris missile system in 1994. How many weapons are on board? The four submarines are currently armed with eight missiles and 40 warheads. But they are each capable of carrying more. How powerful is that? Very. Each missile can fire at a variety of targets with a range of 7,500 miles. Each warhead is believed to be eight times as powerful as the atomic bomb which killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima in 1945. Why do we have it? If all of Britain's other defences were destroyed, Trident could still be operated against the aggressors. It is often referred to as a "deterrent", because the government says its very existence prevents Britain from being attacked by nuclear weapons. How could it be deployed when everything else had been obliterated? Each silent submarine carries a "letter of last resort" from the prime minister outlining what Trident operators should do. How much does it cost? The submarines rather than the Trident missiles are up for renewal by the early 2030s, but the decision about renewal needs to be made by 2016. Estimates vary but Greenpeace puts the cost of renewal at £34bn, while the government says it is closer to £20bn, and there are further costs involved in maintaining it. |