JEREMY Corbyn is set to miss the headline debate on scrapping Trident at this week’s Scottish Labour conference, it has emerged.
The UK leader will address delegates at the start of the three-day event in Perth on Friday.
But despite saying earlier this year that, win or lose the Labour leadership, he would attend specifically for the Trident debate, Corbyn is due to leave town before it comes up.
Activists will decide the debate topics in a vote on Friday, and with around 10 motions against Trident submitted by local parties, the subject is almost certain to be discussed.
However all the debates are on Sunday - which has been designated as members’ day - and comes after Corbyn has made his exit.
The SNP said Corbyn’s change of plan typified Labour’s confusion on the issue.
At the UK Labour conference last month, Corbyn’s hope of a Trident debate fell apart after activists refused to allow a debate on the matter.
Corbyn, a CND vice president, also said he would never press the nuclear button if he was PM, infuriating many in his shadow cabinet.
It then emerged that, despite Corbyn’s opposition, his conference had backed Trident by approving Labour’s “Britain in the World” policy document, which includes a commitment to “credible, independent nuclear capability, delivered through a continuous at-sea deterrent”.
And when Corbyn visited Scotland to meet Labour MSPs earlier this month, he admitted the party might go into next year’s Holyrood election without a settled position on the issue.
An SNP spokeswoman said: “Labour has gone from a position of confusion to one of chaos over Trident. Jeremy Corbyn promised to debate this and any retreat from that will add to the extraordinary dissent and disarray which has engulfed Labour.
“It is also time for Kezia Dugdale to decide where she stands - will she join with the SNP, her party's UK leader, her deputy in Scotland, Labour's only Scottish MP and two senior Labour MSPs who are all against spending £100 billion on weapons of mass destruction?”
Labour is deeply divided on whether to renew Trident.
Shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle, deputy leader Tom Watson, and shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn want to keep it, while Corbyn, shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray want unilateral disarmament.
The trade unions are also split, with the GMB, which has thousands of members in the defence industry, saying it would be madness to get rid of the Faslane-based weapons.
MPs voted in 2007 to extend the life of the nuclear weapon system, and the “main gate” decision on whether to commission three or four new submarines is due next year.
Around 1000 people are expected at this week’s conference, which will be Kezia Dugdale’s first in charge since she replaced Jim Murphy as Scottish Labour leader in August.
Dugdale yesterday said she wanted Labour to be “fit for the future”, a tacit admission that its recent past has been a disaster.
Insisting she was confident about the looming Holyrood election, she said: “I want people to look at Scottish Labour under my leadership and see a re-energised, refreshed party that has positive things to say about the future.
“That means a new generation of candidates; giving members a say in what happens in our party; and ensuring gender equality in the list of new candidates we put to the public.”
But she also appeared to distance herself from Corbyn’s nostalgic appeal to the Left.
“Two of Labour’s proudest achievements - the NHS and the social security system - were created in the 1940s. I want to talk about how prepare Scotland for the 2040s. The arguments and solutions of the past, interesting though they may be, have to be behind us.”
The Scottish Tories yesterday cited a recent YouGov poll to claim almost 80,000 voters who backed Labour at the general election had switched to the Tories for Holyrood 2016.
Leader Ruth Davidson credited “centre ground” policies and a stout defence of the union.
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