This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will join the leaders of the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru in addressing a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally in London.

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The Green party MP Caroline Lucas will also join Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon and Leanne Wood at what is expected to be the biggest event opposing the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear defence system in a generation.

Union officials, faith leaders, anti-nuclear activists and anti-war campaigners will also take part in the Stop Trident protest on Saturday.

Their support indicated that a “mainstream party consensus on Trident and nuclear weapons” was forming, said Kate Hudson, the general secretary of the CND.

“Part of this transformation is about having a proper debate for the first time on how to tackle the real security challenges we face. That’s why we’ve seen politicians like David Blunkett, Keith Vaz and others change their minds about Trident in recent weeks.



“When the arguments are heard in the open, it soon becomes clear that spending an extortionate £183bn on Trident is bad for our security, bad for jobs creation, and bad for society as a whole when it’s draining resources from struggling public services.”

But Labour peer Lord Hutton told Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday that unilateral nuclear disarmament would be against the UK’s best interests.

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He said: “If we want any kind of leverage, any kind of influence, if we want to keep the country safe and secure, then taking the unilateral route to disarmament would be a completely stupid thing to do.”

The GMB union had warned that the scrapping of Trident would cost jobs, with one local official saying it would have a “devastating impact”.

Discussing a conference the union held to debate the issue, the GMB’s general secretary Paul Kenny told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “I think everybody keeps talking about the wonderful principles of Trident, but there are tens of thousands of jobs involved in Britain and workers.

“There are about 50 sites around the UK whose livelihoods depend on defence contracts, and we’re going to ask those people what they think about the Labour party effectively shutting down their jobs and we want their voices heard in this debate.”

But the organisers of Saturday’s rally, which will be held at Trafalgar Square, argued that those concerns were a “red herring”.

Coaches will travel to the capital from across the UK, including Scotland, where the Trident submarines are based. Wood is expected to say that nuclear weapons should be thrown into the “dustbin of history”.

It is believed she will tell the crowd: “When food bank use is at a record high, when the gap between the richest and the poorest is at its widest, when our NHS needs ever-greater investment, it is a disgrace that £100bn and more will be diverted to nuclear weapons that no one should want and no one should ever use.

“This issue is bigger than any one political party. It is bigger than any one government and it is bigger than any one country.

“Just as war is a human-made construct, so too are weapons of mass destruction. It is the will of humanity that will secure their abolition.”

Actor Vanessa Redgrave, Rou Reynolds of rock band Enter Shakiri and comedian Francesca Martinez will also address the rally.

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The shadow cabinet has yet to decide how it will handle any Commons vote on Trident, expected later this year, ahead of the recommendations of a review of the party’s existing support of renewal led by unilateralist shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry.

However defence minister Philip Dunne said: “Thirty years ago, the leader of the opposition [Neil Kinnock] backed unilateral disarmament as we faced aggression from nuclear armed powers who did not share our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

“Today, the picture is depressingly similar. Disarming now would be a reckless gamble with our national security that would play into the hands of our enemies.”