Jeremy Corbyn could DITCH Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent if he wins election
PACIFIST Jeremy Corbyn was branded a “danger to Britain” after saying he would be prepared to give up Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent if he becomes PM.
He said the country’s crucial defence system would be on the table in international negotiations as he pledged to give “realism to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty”.
And he also refused to rule out scrapping Trident unilaterally as a price for securing the SNP’s support in the event of a hung Parliament after the election.
Pressed on whether he would be willing to ditch Trident, Mr Corbyn told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “Well they would be part - obviously - if you enter into a non-proliferation treaty discussions then clearly every country's nuclear weapons go into that equation.”
Today’s comments heightened fears that Mr Corbyn - who played a prominent role in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)- will act on his long-standing opposition to Trident if he enters No10.
It comes as:
- Boris said all of his Tory candidates have vowed to vote for his Brexit deal if he wins a majority
- Jeremy Corbyn said he would allow the families of all EU migrants to come to the UK if he becomes PM
- Priti Patel told The Sun the prospect of Corbyn and Abbott in charge makes her feel sick
- Follow the action with our live blog here
Former Labour MP John Woodcock said putting Mr Corbyn in No10 would “leave the UK at the mercy of nuclear blackmail from Vladimir Putin”.
The Labour leader’s comments come a week after Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith was unable to say whether he would ever be prepared to push the nuclear button.
Mr Corbyn was also lambasted after casting fresh doubt over Labour’s commitment to NATO - just a month before London hosts the military alliance’s annual summit.
Asked whether he agreed with Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Nick Carter, who last week described NATO as the “most successful military alliance in history,” Mr Corbyn said: “I’m not sure I’d define it as that.
“I would define it as a product of an attempt to bring people together after the Second World War and that we are obviously members of Nato and our voice will be there.
Former Labour MPs warned voters that Mr Corbyn’s comments today exposed the threat Mr Corbyn poses to the country if he is given the keys to No10.
'DANGER TO BRITAIN'
Ex-Labour MP Mike Gapes warned: “Once again Corbyn fails to support Nato. He is not fit to be Prime Minister.”
And another former Labour MP John Woodcock, who worked for Gordon Brown in No10 and represented the Barrow and Furness where the new generation of ballistic missile submarines are being built, said Mr Corbyn was “a danger to Britain”.
The Sun says
SO now we know. Jeremy Corbyn is ready to ditch our nukes to persuade the SNP to put him in power.
Make no mistake; this would be a disaster for Britain. Losing our Trident nuclear deterrent would signal to our enemies that we are weak and naive about global threats.
And yet that is the bargaining chip the Labour leader is using to get into No10.
Corbyn’s ratings are now so terrible that he’s had to grovel to Ian Blackford for extra support.
The SNP’s Westminster leader responded by saying he would “come up with a wishlist” of things he would demand as his price for a coalition, as if it were Christmas.
Why would Labour indulge him? So the SNP can take Scotland out of the UK once Corbyn wins an election?
It is an outrageous state of affairs.
More so given that Remainer MPs repeatedly accused Boris Johnson of trying to break up the Union.
Conversely, he did everything to avoid that — painstakingly renegotiating the Irish border deal and ruling out a Scottish independence referendum.
Corbyn, on the other hand, casually bribes the SNP with the possibility of independence and throws in nuclear disarmament for good measure.
His Marxist loons know they cannot win through normal methods; they are so economically insane that they have had to resort to these cheap tricks.
But putting Britain’s security on the negotiating table is an abomination.
He told The Sun: “Labour’s lifelong CND-supporting leader gives the game away on Trident every time he opens his mouth. It is absurd to suggest a Jeremy Corbyn-led government would continue investing in the nuclear deterrent when he’s already rendered it useless by saying there are no circumstances under which he would even threaten to use it to discourage an enemy attack.
“Whether it is a pact with the SNP, non-proliferation talks or because the month has the letter ‘r’ in it, CND Corbyn and his hard left cabal will fall over themselves to find a way to get round Labour’s fragile defence policy and scrap Trident. He would leave the UK and it’s NATO allies at the mercy of nuclear blackmail from Vladimir Putin.”
Mr Corbyn was speaking just minutes after the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford confirmed that ditching Trident would be a condition of his party propping up a minority Labour government. He told the Andrew Marr Show that the December 12 election was “an opportunity to get rid of Trident”.
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Asked if he would be prepared to scrap the atomic missile system if it was a price he had to pay for SNP support, Mr Corbyn replied: “I think the SNP would actually agreeing with me - and indeed in the past they certainly have - that the priority has to be giving realism to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, giving realism to the six-party talks in Korea, giving realism to the whole question of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, in the Middle East or anywhere else.”
Mr Corbyn’s comments come less than a fortnight after 10 Russian submarines were discovered heading toward the Atlantic Ocean in the biggest operation since the Cold War.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told The Sun: “Day in, day out, Royal Navy sailors on British Trident submarines provide the nation’s defence of last resort and in doing so guarantee the UK’s integrity. A Jeremy Corbyn led Government would leave Britain defenceless and decimate our shipyards.”
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