ANKARA
Britain’s center-right Conservative Party pledged Thursday to renew the country’s nuclear deterrent system with a like-for-like replacement.
They accused the center-left main opposition Labour Party of being prepared to scrap the system in return for taking power through a coalition with anti-nuclear deterrent minority parties.
Defense Secretary Michael Fallon described Labour leader Ed Miliband as “a man so desperate for power he is ready to barter away our nuclear deterrent in a backroom deal with the SNP.”
He was referring to public offers made by Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the left-wing separatist Scottish National Party, to lock the Conservatives out of government by supporting a minority Labour government on an ad-hoc basis.
“Nicola Sturgeon has offered to make Ed Miliband prime minister if he meets her shopping list of more debt, unlimited welfare and junking our nuclear deterrent. It is a sign of Ed Miliband’s weakness that he has failed to rule out a deal. Voters can only conclude that he would be prepared to trade Britain’s national security just to get his hands on the keys to Downing Street,” Fallon said.
While Labour leader Miliband has ruled out an official coalition, he has refused to comment definitively on the prospects of a looser post-election deal.
“The SNP’s childlike worldview would sacrifice the long-term security of the U.K. and play into the hands of our enemies. The nuclear deterrent protects all of Britain and the SNP represents a separatist threat that would dangerously weaken our collective defense,” Fallon said.
The left-wing SNP have seen a surge in support following their defeat in the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.
An ICM poll conducted for the liberal-left Guardian newspaper on March 26, 2015 suggested the real possibility of electoral annihilation for Labour in its Scottish heartland.
The poll gave the SNP 43 percent and Labour trailed 16 points behind with 27 percent.
If correct, the SNP would take 43 of Scotland’s 59 seats, up from six seats in 2010.
Labour would lose 29 of the 41 seats it won in 2010, leaving it with only 12 Scottish seats and likely unable to form a majority government.
In a Guardian interview last month, the Scottish first minister said the SNP would vote against the nuclear deterrent’s replacement, as opposed to placing its abolishment as a condition in any post-election negotiations.
In the BBC Scottish leaders’ debate on Wednesday night, however, Sturgeon said, “Is Trident a red line? Well here’s my answer: you’d better believe Trident is a red line.”
What is Trident?
Trident is the U.K.’s sea-based nuclear weapons system comprised of three parts: submarines, missiles and warheads.
It was introduced in the 1990s and is based in the river Clyde in Scotland, hence the crucial importance of the SNP’s anti-nuclear deterrence position.
The political divisions revolve around two main issues: how many submarines Britain should have and how this affects 'continuous at sea deterrence,' or the ability to always have one nuclear-armed vessel on patrol.
The government claimed in 2013 that Trident cost between £15 and £20 billion, but Greenpeace said that once running and extra costs such as VAT are taken into account, the bill runs to at least £34 billion.
Parties clash
Labour have suggested the possibility of reducing the number of submarines from four to three, providing continuous at sea deterrence could be maintained, but staunchly support the retention of a nuclear deterrent.
“Our position is continuous at-sea deterrence, like the Conservative party, renewing Trident, like the Conservative party, multi-lateral disarmament, like the Conservative party,” the opposition leader said at his party’s education manifesto launch Thursday.
Miliband has defended the “right to have a review” into the issue of the number of submarines “because if technology changes, you can look at it.”
Labour shadow defense secretary Vernon Coaker said, “Labour is committed to maintain a minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent, delivered through a continuous-at-sea deterrent. This is not up for negotiation with any party. The Tories are resorting to the language of smear.”
The Conservatives have consistently argued that replacing Trident in its current form is the best option.
They argue that not only is deterrence necessary in today’s unstable world, but that the nuclear defense industry also employs up to 15,000 people.
The Liberal Democrats are publicly in favor of cutting the number of submarines to three, arguing that the current system was only fit for the Cold War era.
Liberal Democrat Defense spokesman Sir Nick Harvey told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that a nuclear deterrent was “worth retaining,” but the “question is whether we want to be sailing the high seas waving a weapon of mass destruction at the world when we don’t have a known nuclear adversary.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing UKIP, criticized Conservative attacks on a prospective Labour-SNP coalition, tweeting, "Tory Hypocrisy: hitting out at Labour over SNP when they went into coalition with Trident-opposed Lib Dems in 2010.”
Natalie Bennett, leader of the left-wing Green Party, said in a statement, “The truth is that the Labour leadership has made it clear that they will prioritize spending £100 billion on a cold war relic - rather than investing in the schools and hospitals that this country so desperately needs.”
She called for the electorate to vote in more Green MPs to push Labour and parliament to scrap the country’s nuclear deterrent entirely.
