The Libdems and Trident

I should have written about this last week and apologise for the delay but it is important that it's recorded because there was little in the MSM about it.

One of the Libdem's manifesto promises was the rejection of the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent. Nick Clegg said: "The world has changed, the facts have changed, you've got to change with them. So like for like replacement for Trident is just not right."

To be accurate Mr Clegg was not against nuclear weapons per se but wished for analternative to Trident and he wanted the incoming government to include Trident in the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review (SDR). In his words the question of Trident was 'non-negotiable'.

The Scottish and Welsh nationalists want rid of Trident altogether because they consider it a complete waste of money and well out of date.

Last Tuesday in the House of Commons, there was a vote on the proposal that government include Trident within the terms of the SDR. As Eric Joyce pointed out in a blog post, prior to the vote, Nick Harvey MP, now Minister of State for Defence, states on his website: 'It would be ridiculous not to consider Trident in the Defence Review."

However, just after the vote Eric Joyce posted again with the title: 'Er, so the Libdems just voted for Trident'.

Giving consideration to the abject state of our economy, it's a disgrace Trident is not even going to be discussed in any depth and our politicians are quite happy to spend around £130 billion on a weapons system which will be controlled, like the current one, by another country.

I suspect many Libdem supporters may have been feeling a little upset last week knowing that one of their leader's non-negotiable policies bit the dust so easily.

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