Carmichael: vote on trident is “missed opportunity”

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael, has said “an opportunity has been missed” following this morning’s vote on the replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons submarines.

The vote, which took place in the House of Commons, saw the renewal of the UK’s nuclear weapons system with 472 votes to 117.

Commenting after the vote Mr Carmichael, said: “This was an opportunity to take steps to multi-lateral nuclear disarmament and we missed it.

“Simply rolling over a weapons system that was designed for the Cold War period is lazy and expensive thinking. It will also make it much more difficult for the UK to meet its obligations to reduce its nuclear capacity in the next ten years.

He said: “A fortnight ago the Commons debated the Chilcot Report and heard the catastrophic consequences for our troops of being sent into battle with inadequate kit and equipment. That was a consequence of the imbalance that our defence budget has between nuclear and conventional forces.

“Until we fix that then the situation that Chilcot described will, I fear, risk happening again.”