During a debate prior to the vote, the Prime Minister had declared she would be prepared to push the nuclear button to protect the United Kingdom – even if it would cause mass fatalities.
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George Kerevan, an MP for the SNP, asked Mrs May: “Can we cut to the chase?”
The question brought an unequivocal response.
She replied: “Yes – and I have to say to you, the whole point of a deterrent is that our enemies need to know that we would be prepared to”.
In a swipe at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, she said: “Some people suggest to us that we should actually be removing our nuclear deterrent”.
The leader of Labour Party, Corbyn, also stated his stance on the nuclear debate, which was, predictably, the opposite of May’s.
Members of the British parliament have strongly voted to renew the country’s ageing nuclear weapons system, a multibillion-dollar project regarded as key to maintaining the country’s status as a world power following its vote to leave the European Union.
Even though the United Kingdom has made a decision to leave the European Union, Britain is still relevant in matters of European and global peacekeeping, the nation’s defense chief said and members of parliament signaled Monday with a majority vote on the future of London’s nuclear forces.
The House of Commons vote approves the manufacture of four replacement submarines at a current estimated cost of £31bn.
May, during a first Commons speech since entering Number 10, added the “very real” threat posed by Russian Federation and North Korea meant Britain could not afford to “relax our guard”.
Labour MPs were given a free vote in the debate because the party was still in the process of revising its policy, and 140 of its 230 MPs voting for renewal, with 47 against.
“We can not outsource the grave responsibility we shoulder for keeping our people safe”, she said, adding that scrapping the Trident submarine-based weapons system would be “a reckless gamble, a gamble that would enfeeble our allies and embolden our enemies”.
The Conservatives committed in their 2015 general election manifesto to replace the Vanguard class of submarine, which carries Trident missiles, with four new successor-class boats.
The Trident program was introduced by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s to replace the Polaris missile system used since the 1960s.
“Because not only is renewal party policy, it’s the settled will of the country”.
The vote isn’t technically necessary and Labour MPs have accused the Tories of seeking to expose the deep divide in the opposition of the issue.
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SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson said Trident was “immoral” and plans to renew it needed “scrutiny”.
