Labour's defence review will leave open the option of retaining the UK's nuclear deterrent despite Jeremy Corbyn's support for unilateral disarmament, according to reports.
The review is expected to set five tests for the UK's continued status as a nuclear power, including whether it makes a "demonstrable contribution" to the defence of the country and if it represents value for money.
Read more: Corbyn must go or we risk almost permanent Conservative rule
A Commons vote on pushing ahead with the programme to replace the ageing Vanguard submarines which carry the Trident missiles is expected to be held before the summer recess, potentially driving a further wedge between Mr Corbyn and his backbenchers.
The BBC's Newsnight programme reported the draft conclusions from the review had been accepted by Mr Corbyn and could be considered formally at the party's conference in September - after the expected Commons vote on the issue.
The document is reported to include five key tests a future Labour government would have to evaluate before deciding whether to continue to support the use of nuclear weapons.
As well as asking whether it provides a "demonstrable contribution" to the defence of the UK and whether it represents value for money, Labour would also have to consider the impact on jobs and regional development, whether it would contribute to the party's support for multilateral disarmament, and whether the deterrent would stand the test of time in the face of new technology.
Newsnight said Mr Corbyn believes the report could provide a middle way between unilateral disarmament and maintaining a full-scale nuclear weapons system.
Read more: Scottish Labour at war: Relations between Dugdale and her deputy have "completely broken down"
A Labour Party spokesman said: "The defence review is a continuing project looking at what is best for Britain. It will report in due course. As people would expect, we are assessing the impact of Brexit and the Chilcot Report as we consider the detail of our policy response. Ultimately it will be for the party members to decide Labour's policy programme."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel