An SNP call to scrap the Trident nuclear deterrent has been seen off in the Commons by a huge margin, with some Labour MPs expected to have defied Jeremy Corbyn to vote with the Tories.
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The SNP motion was defeated 330 to 64, majority 266.
Several Labour MPs took to the floor during the often heated debate to back the official Labour position of renewing Trident, including former leadership candidate Liz Kendall who said the Britain’s nuclear deterrent was “vital”.
Former Labour defence secretary Lord Des Browne has warned that the Trident nuclear weapons system could be disarmed by cyber attacks.
After John Woodcock, a pro-Trident Labour MP, launched a scathing attack on the SNP’s record on education and health in Scotland, SNP MPs attempted to intervene.
Mr Perkins repeatedly clashed with the SNP as he told the House that “it is not appropriate to vote” on the motion “at a time when we are still conducting our review”.
The six MPs who voted for the motion were: Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Sparkbrook and Small Heath), Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North), Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) and Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton).
“In the end, national party conference and the national policy forum decide what the Labour Party’s approach to this question will be”.
Mr O’Hara accused Labour of hiding behind “the fig leaf of multilateralism” and said he had no doubt that Mr Corbyn would join the SNP in voting against Trident renewal next year.
Miller added: “I am very comfortable saying that right now our command and control system is insulated from cyber-attack because it doesn’t go into any place that cyber would intrude”.
“Will you make a pledge in the House today that you will base the Main Gate decision on the operational contracting need of this programme and not on political considerations?” “Everyone knows I’m not a unilateralist”.
The Labour Party is reviewing all aspects of its defence policy, including the UK’s nuclear weapons.
The Copeland MP, who is lobbying heavily for a new £10 billion power plant near Sellafield, resigned from Labour’s front bench just minutes after Mr Corbyn’s election in September because their views on atomic energy differ.
Shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle is not among the few Labour MPs present in the chamber for the debate while numerous 15 or so that are, including John Woodcock, who represents Barrow-in-Furness, where the submarines are built, Jamie Reid and Angela Smith, have made the case for renewal. “Trident is a political weapon – and it is a political weapon which can never and will never be used except to consume anything between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of the United Kingdom defence procurement budget”.
“Not one country under the protection of an extended nuclear umbrella has been invaded”.
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Mr Reed however argued that while there are nuclear weapons in the world, the UK’s only effective deterrent is maintaining its own. “But the proposer of the motion refused point blank to take me”.
