Intervening on prime minister Theresa May, he said: “Whatever you’re about to hear from our front bench, it remains steadfastly Labour party policy to renew the deterrent while other countries have the capacity to threaten the United Kingdom”.
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Asking for the fleet to removed from Scotland, the MPs said its continuing presence there would be another reason to seek a second independence referendum.
The result – 472 votes to 117, majority 355 – was returned in support of a Government motion, which also included backing the plan to replace the existing submarine fleet carrying the missiles with four new successor submarines. “I do not believe the threat of mass murder is a legitimate way to go about dealing with global relations”.
In a swipe at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, she said: “Some people suggest to us that we should actually be removing our nuclear deterrent”.
While both Clive Lewis, the Shadow Defence Secretary, and Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, were among the 40 Labour MPs to abstain, Corbyn came under public criticism in the chamber for how he had made a decision to vote, which many claimed went against Labour’s own policy on the issue.
The Trident system was originally bought in the early 1980s from the U.S. by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a last-ditch defence in case the armies of the former Warsaw Pact, which was disbanded in 1989, overran Europe.
He said: “Could I encourage her to encourage the Scottish nationalists, that if they don’t want Trident jobs in Scotland, they will be happily taken in Northern Ireland”.
With Mr Corbyn set to face a leadership challenge from either Angela Eagle or Owen Smith, Mr Roache said he would now be balloting his 640,000 members on whether they believed he was still the right person to lead the party.
He said: “We must remember that nuclear weapons can not be targeted: they are all about complete obliteration”.
Mr Corbyn, a long-standing opponent of nuclear weapons, came under fire from his backbenchers over his opposition to Trident and the replacement of the Vanguard boats.
When asked by the SNP’s George Keravan if she would be willing to launch a strike that could “kill a hundred thousand innocent men, women and children” she scarcely paused before answering “yes”.
The Trident nuclear programme is operated by the Royal Navy and based at Clyde Naval Base, commonly known as Faslane, on the west coast of Scotland.
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Mr Corbyn, a lifelong supporter of unilateral disarmament, voted against renewal, while his deputy, Tom Watson, voted in favour and his defence spokesman Clive Lewis abstained.
