Andy Burnham confirms that he would renew the Trident nuclear weapons system in full

Jeremy Corbyn says he would not spend billions on the missile and submarine system

Thursday 13 August 2015 16:49

Burnham: 'I believe Labour needs to rediscover the self-confidence to make a big argument'

(Getty Images)

A candidate to be the next leader of the Labour party has confirmed that he would spend billions renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system in full.

Andy Burnham said he could not be certain that Britain would not need the £100bn system, which has never been used.

“I believe in multilateral disarmament but I can’t say to you on the radio now that I would back away from renewing Trident, because I wouldn’t,” he told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

“I’ve been an MP for coming on 15 years and when I first got elected I don’t think I could have possibly imagined the world events I have seen in those years.”

HMS Victorious, a Trident nuclear submarine, patrols the waters of the west coast of Scotland

(Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images)

“I do not think I’ll know enough about how this world will develop in the rest of this century for our country now to say ‘you know what, we’re going it alone now’.”

When it was pointed out to Mr Burnham that only nine countries out of around 200 had nuclear weapons, Mr Burnham replied:

“Their history is different, isn’t it? In respect of their involvement in conflicts past and our membership of the security council gives us a leadership position on these matters.”

Cost estimates for the nuclear weapons range between £60bn and £120bn over its lifetime.

Labour leadership: The Contenders

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1/4Labour leadership: The Contenders

Jeremy Corbyn started off as the rank outsider in the race to replace Ed Miliband and admitted he was only standing to ensure the left of the party was given a voice in the contest. But the Islington North MP, who first entered Parliament in 1983, is now the firm favourite to be elected Labour leader on September 12 after a surge in left-wing supporters signing up for a vote.

PA

Liz Kendall has been labelled the Blairite candidate throughout the contest, which partly explains why she has failed to attract the support needed in a party that has drifted even further from the centre-ground of British politics since the election. She has faced criticism over her relative lack of experience, having only served as an MP since 2010 and having no experience of ministerial or shadow cabinet roles. But that very lack of experience allowed her to initially make a pitch as the only candidate offering real change and a real break from the Blair/Brown/Miliband years, until Jeremy Corbyn entered the race and shifted the whole debate to the left. She is set to finish a disappointing fourth.

PA

Andy Burnham started out as the front-runner in the leadership election, seen as the candidate of the left until Jeremy Corbyn entered the race. The former Cabinet minister has found himself squeezed between the growing populism of Corbyn’s radical agenda and the moderate, centre-left Yvette Cooper, not knowing which way to turn. It has attracted damaging labels such as ‘flip-flop Andy’, most notably over his response to the Government’s Welfare Bill. He remains hopeful he can win enough second preference votes to take him over the 50 per cent threshold ahead of Corbyn.

PA

Yvette Cooper has put her experience and achievements in government at the heart of her offer to the Labour party. She played a key part in setting up Sure Start in Tony Blair’s government and has pledged to continue her record on delivering for young families by promising a “revolution in the way families are supported” by introducing universal free childcare. She has also championed her role as a full-time working mother, taking pride in telling audiences that she does the school run for the kids before her day starts as a politician. But she has been criticised for being too wooden and lacking in passion and her attacks on Liz Kendall for “swallowing the Tory manifesto” at the start of the leadership contest have been criticised for helping Jeremy Corbyn brand all three mainstream candidates as ‘Tory-lite’.

PA

Last time nuclear weapons were used in war they killed around 200,000 people. The 70th anniversary of the use of such bombs against Japan was marked this month.

Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall are also in favour of keeping Trident, while Jeremy Corbyn says he would not renew the system, whose current iteration is nearing the end of its life.

The SNP, which runs the Scottish government, is against Trident, as is the Green Party.

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