One in four of Starmer’s Cabinet opposed Trident renewal
More than a quarter of Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet opposed the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.
Six members of the Prime Minister’s top team voted against renewing the deterrent when the issue came before the Commons in 2016.
These included Angela Rayner, Sir Keir’s deputy, and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, while Louise Haigh, Lisa Nandy, Jo Stevens and Ian Murray also voted against.
Fifteen of Sir Keir’s Cabinet broke with the party line under Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir’s predecessor, and voted to support securing Trident for a generation.
But Ms Rayner and Mr Lammy were two of the most vocal supporters of Mr Corbyn’s position, claiming welfare and public service cuts meant Britain’s nuclear deterrent could no longer be justified.
Labour launched a strategic defence review last week which is due to look at ways the nuclear deterrent can be modernised and maintained.
The party’s election manifesto included a “triple-lock” commitment to the nuclear submarine programme in the wake of the party shifting its policy positions on national security issues.
It promised to maintain Trident, build four new submarines in Barrow-in-Furness and commit to “all the future upgrades needed” to British nuclear defences.
However in the aftermath of the vote in 2016 Ms Rayner said: “Thanks for the tremendous support [for] my position over Trident.
“Amazed we can find money for this but we steal £30 a week off disabled people.”
A similar argument was made by Mr Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, the previous year.
In January 2015, he wrote on social media: “We shouldn’t be prioritising nuclear bombs when public services like housing and the NHS are in crisis. I’ll be voting against Trident renewal.”
During the general election campaign, Ms Rayner said she still backed global nuclear disarmament, while Mr Lammy insisted he was now “100 per cent” behind Trident.
Appearing on a BBC political programme on July 18 2016 – the day of the Commons vote – Ms Nandy, who is now the Culture Secretary, made the case against renewing Trident.
During her 2020 Labour leadership campaign, she would clarify she wanted to keep Trident as long as progress could eventually be made towards global nuclear disarmament.
In 2015, Ian Murray, the Scotland Secretary, proudly declared in an article for the LabourList website he was a “lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons”.
He came under pressure during the election to clarify whether he would stand by his “lifelong” remark or fall in line behind Sir Keir’s “unshakeable” commitment to the deterrent.
Tory critics have raised concerns about how Cabinet ministers’ views on nuclear weapons could impact Britain’s special relationship with the United States.
Mark Francois, a Conservative MP and former Armed Forces minister, said: “As it now looks increasingly likely we will see a Trump presidency, he may well be unimpressed to learn how many members of the new British Cabinet voted personally against renewing our nuclear deterrent.
“This is not just about paying your membership fee of the Nato club. It’s about whether you even believe in its ultimate deterrent capability at all.”
A Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Government’s support for nuclear deterrence is total.
“As set out in the Labour manifesto, the deterrent is triple-locked. We will build four new nuclear submarines at Barrow-in-Furness, maintain Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrence, and deliver all future upgrades needed to keep our country safe.
“While in government the Conservatives hollowed out our Armed Forces, shrunk the Army to its smallest size since Napoleon, wasted billions of pounds by mismanaging defence procurement, and allowed morale to fall to record lows. They failed British troops and British taxpayers.”