In a debate before the vote, the Prime Minister stated that she would push the nuclear button if it came down to it – even if that decision would cause mass fatalities.
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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.
She was challenged by the Scottish National Party’s George Kerevan, who asked, “Are you prepared to authorise a nuclear strike that could kill hundreds of thousands of men, women and children?”.
“The whole point of a deterrent is that our enemies need to know that we would be prepared to use it”.
But John Woodcock, the Labour MP for Barrow, where the submarines will be built, told Mrs May it remained “steadfastly” the party’s policy to retain the deterrent and many opposition MPs would “do the right thing”, despite Mr Corbyn’s unilateralist position.
Labour MPs were granted a “free vote” on the subject, but with 140 supporting the Government motion, it is still being seen as the biggest show of defiance by backbenchers in a Commons vote under Corbyn.
All MPs from across Gloucestershire voted to renew the Trident nuclear system at a Commons vote on Monday.
The Trident nuclear deterrent system was voted by MPs overwhelmingly to renew as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was angrily condemned by his own party for opposing the measure.
The vote, won with a majority of 355 votes, approves the manufacture of four replacement submarines at an estimated cost of £31bn.
Theresa May said the move would protect Britain from growing threats from Russian Federation and North Korea, and also protect thousands of jobs in Scotland and elsewhere.
Making her first appearance at the Commons despatch box as Prime Minister, Mrs May insisted aggression from countries such as Russian Federation and North Korea remained “very real”. Nuclear weapons do exist across the world and they can not be un-invented.
“I believe it is the first duty of government to defend the nation”.
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“If Jeremy were to join the Shadow Defence Secretary and abstain on one of the most important security votes of the decade it would be just another sorry example of the lack of leadership in the party at the moment”.
