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May defends UK nuclear arms as Parliament votes on renewal

The MPs voted late Monday night 472 to 117 in favour in the House of Commons, the BBC reported. The approximate cost for their replacement is said to be £31bn ($41 billion).

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Labour’s deputy leader also predicted union workers would be “furious” with MPs, including Corbyn, who voted against Trident given the jobs that would be lost if it was scrapped.

Mr Kinahan, the Ulster Unionist MP for South Antrim, said replacing the UK’s nuclear arsenal was “not a luxury” – and added: “I’m sure we will be more than happy to house the Trident programme and all of the thousands of jobs that go with it in our Province”.

A total of 47 Labour MPs voted against renewal, while others abstained.

He announced that he would vote against Trident again, but as he spoke, he was constantly interrupted by Labour MPs who demanded that he should defend the party’s policy instead of giving his own opinion.

While the SNP and Tories should high levels of unity on opposite sides of the debate, the Labour benches were embarrassingly divided, prompting Crispin Blunt – the only Tory to vote against renewal – to observe that “the truth is that this is a political weapon, aimed rather effectively at the Labour Party”.

The use of the nuclear trident submarine “which carries more exclusive power than was used in the entire Second World War” might affect the whole planet and may result in the killing of millions if not billions of people, he warned.

Speaking ahead of the Commons vote, Margaret Ritchie of the SDLP said the renewal of Trident was “about status, not security”.

Jamie Reed, Labour MP for Copeland branded Mr Corbyn’s opposition “juvenile” and “narcissistic” and said shadow cabinet members who voted against Trident should resign and return to the backbenches because they would be voting against Labour Party policy.

The Conservative government was determined to maintain Britain’s nuclear deterrent, which consists of four Royal Navy submarines armed with Trident missiles. “I don’t believe the threat of mass murder is a legitimate way of going about global relations”. But I suspect that those preparing Corbyn for the coming leadership election, are not unhappy to be having an argument about nuclear weapons as the contest gets going.

In a swipe at Mr Corbyn, she said: “Some people suggest to us that we should actually be removing our nuclear deterrent”. May, however, said that putting aside the deterrent would be a “dereliction of duty” for Britain.

North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones, a former defence minister, intervened in Mr Corbyn’s speech, saying: “He, like me, stood in May 2015 on a party policy agreed at our conference. for the renewal of continuous at sea deterrent”.

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In her first address to Parliament since taking office last week, Prime Minister Theresa May didn’t hesitate when an opposition lawmaker asked the toughest question for any leader of a nuclear state: Would she be willing to order a nuclear strike?

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May said she would be willing to authorise a nuclear strike resulting in mass loss of life