Among those who voted against was Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who also said he would not push the nuclear button if he was ever Prime Minister. “This has been a vital part of our national security and defence for almost half a century, and it would be quite wrong for us to go down that particular path”, May told parliament.
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The House of Commons voted 472 to 117 to replace the Royal Navy’s four submarines at a cost of £31bn – plus up to £140 billion in lifetime running costs.
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.
The motion is nearly certain to pass, as many Labour lawmakers are expected to back the Conservative government despite the opposition of their leader Jeremy Corbyn, and members of the Scottish National Party (SNP).
All MPs elected to represent Scotland, where the system is based, voted against renewal.
British MPs have backed the renewal of the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system, a move backed by newly appointed Prime Minister Theresa May.
The government motion had the backing of Parliament’s Conservative majority and passed easily.
Many MPs – including some who have quit the front bench in protest at his leadership – were furious that he did not speak up for Labour’s official policy to back the renewal of the warheads.
Mr Corbyn questioned if the “weapons of mass destruction” act as a credible deterrent to the threats faced by the United Kingdom, adding he would not take a decision that “kills millions of innocent people” – a nod to his stance that he would not authorise the use of nuclear weapons.
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.
“What this country needs to do is to recognise that it faces a variety of threats and to ensure we have the capabilities that are necessary and appropriate to deal with each of those threats”, she said ahead of the vote.
And when asked to clarify whether she would authorize a nuclear attack that killed thousands of people, she responded simply: “Yes”.
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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Corbyn will vote against the government’s plan for renewing the system, while Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, until last month the shadow defense secretary, will abstain.
