Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry slapped down for claiming Labour might drop Trident commitment

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry was “wrong” to claim Labour could abandon its commitment to the UK’s nuclear deterrent, the party's defence spokeswoman has said.

Nia Griffith, the shadow Defence Secretary, slapped down the suggestion that Labour would review Trident if it came to power and insisted the issue was “already settled”.

Labour’s manifesto said the party backed the renewal of the nuclear weapons programme, but speaking to the LBC radio station, Ms Thornberry said she was “sceptical” about Trident and indicated the party could drop its support.

Asked if she could guarantee Trident renewal would remain Labour policy following a defence review, she said: “Well no, of course not, if you are going to have a review, you have to have a review.”

But Ms Griffith told BBC’s Newsnight: “With all due respect, Emily is not the shadow Defence Secretary – I am.

“We had a long meeting on Thursday at which we agreed the manifesto and nobody has raised the issue of removing the Trident nuclear deterrent from our manifesto. That was agreed last year, that we would have it as a part of our defence review that we had last year as part of our national policy forum process.”

Asked if Ms Thornberry was wrong to state Labour was going to review its commitment to Trident, she replied: “Indeed.”

The party was “fully committed” to a nuclear deterrent, Ms Griffith added.

open image in gallery

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has long advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament but appears to have accepted he would struggle to persuade a majority of his party colleagues to back his position.

The party’s manifesto states: “Labour supports the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent. As a nuclear-armed power, our country has a responsibility to fulfil our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. Labour will lead multilateral efforts with international partners and the UN to create a nuclear-free world.”

Sir Michael Fallon, the Conservative Defence Secretary, last month said voters had been left “completely unsure as to what would actually happen to our nuclear deterrent” under a Corbyn government.

He said the Prime Minister would be prepared to use Britain’s nuclear weapons as a “pre-emptive initial strike”.

Sir Michael added: “In the most extreme circumstances, we have made it very clear that you can’t rule out the use of nuclear weapons as a first strike.”