The much-anticipated Labour Defence Review is launched! On Friday, new Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry published her terms of reference for the Review, inviting submissions from across society. Contributions are invited under four headings: Britain’s place in the world; The Threats to Britain’s Security; Britain’s Military and Security Forces; and Protecting British Jobs and Skills.
Contributions are welcomed before 30th April 2016, addressing a series of questions set out under each of the four headings, and are to be made via Labour’s ‘Your Britain’ website at www.yourbritain.org.uk/defencereview. The document produced as a result will be fed into the International Policy Commission of Labour’s National Policy Forum, which will then report to Labour’s Annual Conference in Liverpool in September.
Clearly the review should consider all aspects of Britain’s security, the threats that we face and appropriate means to respond. And of course many of the most urgent threats are non-military – like the impacts of climate change, pandemics, cyberattack and resource shortages. The review should be rooted firmly in addressing these 21st century challenges, so when it comes to nuclear weapons – the ultimate cold war totem – there has to be very serious consideration of whether Trident has any utility at all.
Basing our national security on the game of bluff known as ‘deterrence’ seems unwise, and so too would be building enormous submarines that may fall prey both to cyber attack on their computer systems and physical attack via underwater drones. Increasing expert evidence suggests that both of these scenarios are possible. So when security and technology have moved far beyond these massive white elephants, how bizarre to hear the suggestion that we should build Trident replacement submarines but not arm them with nuclear weapons.
To me, the logic is straightforward:
- if the review concludes Britain doesn’t need nuclear weapons then we don’t build Trident replacement
- if replacement subs are not being built at Barrow, Labour’s Defence Diversification policy can come into force and the shipyard can produce surface ships, conventional subs, or other engineering projects that would be useful to our society and help regenerate our industry and economy.
Today’s suggestion of Trident replacement without nuclear weapons is no kind of answer to concerns about Trident and jobs. To build redundant Trident replacement submarines would be pointless, a waste of money, of national resources and the skills of the Barrow workface. Labour needs to get its Defence Diversification Agency up and running, with the workforce involved, and design a serious strategy to take British industry forward without weapons of mass destruction.