By the time you read this, I will have voted for the renewal of our Trident nuclear deterrent. I have heard all the arguments about this being yesterday’s weapon for yesterday’s war but I just can’t work out where those who make that argument found their crystal ball? Chinese expansion in the Pacific, the continued development of weapons in North Korea, the possibility of weapons being stolen from the former Soviet stockpile or from Pakistan, a rekindling of Iran’s nuclear programme or something completely different; the truth is that we don’t know what threats await us in the future.
This is not a capability that we can just buy off the shelf if a definite nuclear threat re-emerges. It takes decades to develop, its successful deployment is the work of crews who have trained with it at sea for years, and the potency of the deterrent is that it is hidden under the ocean every second of every day. We buy it hoping that we will never need to use it but knowing that it is in having it – not using it – that it protects us the most.
Those who side with Jeremy Corbyn on this are turning a blind eye to the speed with which the world changes. Surely the last few weeks have shown us beyond any doubt that we cannot possibly know what is in our future. The first priority of any government is national security and Trident is our ultimate insurance policy against whatever threats emerge in the decades ahead. It is expensive but it is a sovereign guarantee of our security and it’s worth every penny to me.