Scottish Labour to vote on Trident renewal

Scottish Labour is to hold a debate on whether or not it should call for the UK's Trident nuclear missile system to be scrapped.

Delegates have agreed to discuss a motion opposing the renewal of Trident at its conference in Perth.

The conference is now widely expected to vote against renewal on Sunday.

It could put Scottish Labour at odds with the main UK party, which currently backs replacing the country's nuclear deterrent.

However, new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is strongly opposed to nuclear weapons.

In his address to the conference shortly after the Trident announcement was made, Mr Corbyn told delegates they would be taking a decision "for the good of the people of Scotland, and for the good of our party".

'Skilled jobs'

Acknowledging concerns about the potential impact on defence jobs if the Trident replacement is cancelled, he said: "We know there are skilled jobs in the defence industry and we cannot be negligent about skilled jobs. We must secure every one of them.

"But don't tell me we can't also put some of those skills to better and different use: security of jobs for innovators, engineers, technicians, security staff and civil servants are important.

"No one should even consider allocating one penny of any money that may be saved by not renewing Trident until every one of those skills and jobs are protected through a proper programme of management of that change."

Where do the parties stand on Trident renewal?

Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron has always maintained the UK needs to keep its nuclear weapons, calling it as "insurance policy" against attacks. Replacing Trident was a Tory manifesto pledge in the general election.

Labour has supported Trident renewal, saying it has been a "cornerstone" of peace and security for nearly 50 years - but that policy is now in doubt after the election of long-time opponent Jeremy Corbyn as party leader. He says the issue will form part of their defence review, but has also said that even if there were a replacement system, he would never use them as PM.

The SNP, which now has 56 MPs in the House of Commons, opposes Trident renewal. During the election campaign it described Trident as "unusable and indefensible - and the plans to renew it are ludicrous on both defence and financial grounds".

The Lib Dems, who insisted on no final decision being taken while they were in coalition, have always been sceptical about a like-for-like replacement and insisted on a value for money review. They back a "step down the nuclear ladder" with a smaller nuclear weapons system providing a "minimal yet credible" deterrent.

Read more about Trident renewal here

Delegates at the party's UK conference in Brighton last month voted to debate other issues rather than Trident, which is based at the Faslane submarine base on the Clyde.

But Scottish activists made Trident a priority issue for a policy vote on Sunday after it received the most votes of the 17 issues proposed for debate.

The trade union reform bill, housing and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will also be discussed on Sunday.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale told the BBC she understood the strength of feeling on the issue, and was "open-minded" about the possibility of her party voting not to replace the nuclear weapons system.

And she said that if a new fleet of nuclear-armed submarines was not ordered, the money saved should go to the communities that lose out.

Labour's only surviving Scottish MP has also insisted the party could have different policies on the renewal of Trident north and south of the border.

Shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said moves to make the party in Scotland more autonomous meant it could "have a different position on anything it wants".

The Scottish conference is widely expected to back Jeremy Corbyn's opposition to Trident renewal

Lothians MSP and former Scottish Labour leadership contender Neil Findlay, who is an ally of Mr Corbyn in his opposition to nuclear weapons, had warned the party against taking a "a head-in-the-sand approach" to Trident.

Writing in the conference bulletin of the Labour Campaign for Socialism, Mr Findlay said: "If we shy away from discussing this issue, we can be sure that others won't be slow in pointing out our reluctance to do so."

The GMB union has written to party members warning that cancelling the Trident replacement would threaten thousands of defence jobs in Scotland.

Scottish Labour suffered a devastating defeat in May's general election, with the party losing 40 of its 41 seats to the SNP, which has pledged to remove nuclear weapons from Scottish waters.

But it has reported a doubling of its membership since Mr Corbyn became UK party leader last month.

In his speech, Mr Corbyn also presented Labour as a socialist alternative to the SNP. He will also challenge Conservative tax credit cuts and Scottish government cuts in education.

He added: "If you're satisfied with rising inequality, rising child poverty and widening health inequalities, then Labour is not for you. If you're satisfied that nearly a million people in Scotland are in fuel poverty or that half of all housing in Scotland falls short of official quality standards, then Labour isn't for you."

Mr Corbyn last week backed Ms Dugdale's proposals for Scottish Labour to be given greater autonomy over areas such as policy making, candidate selection and membership.

Debate over the position of the party in Scotland has raged since last year's independence referendum, after which former leader Johann Lamont resigned after claiming the London leadership treated it like a "branch office".

The Scottish Labour conference can be watched live online from 14:05 to 16:05 on Friday, and from 13:40 to 15:40 on Saturday. Conference 2015: Scottish Labour Party will also be shown on BBC Two Scotland on Saturday.