The SNP are very, very happy that they now have 56 MPs in Westminster. But to listen to their conference in Aberdeen today, you’d think they were happiest that Labour is having a miserable time in the House of Commons. It wasn’t just Nicola Sturgeon’s speech, covered here, that showed their joy. It was also the ‘Westminster Hour’ session that the party ran later in the day, featuring a number of newly elected MPs, and the party’s Westminster group leader Angus Robertson and finance spokesman Stewart Hosie.
Angus Robertson in particular gave the impression that he was enjoying the misery of the Labour party and the SNP’s hand in that as much as a cat enjoys toying with a mouse over several days. He decided to toy with that mouse just a little bit more today, in order to provoke another furious round of squeaking, as he announced that the SNP will press for an early debate and vote on Trident renewal in the coming months.
The reason this will provoke furious noises from the Labour party, even though it officially has a settled position on Trident, is that Jeremy Corbyn has already pre-empted the party’s policy review on nuclear weapons. At his party’s conference, his Shadow Defence Secretary was saying that the party would reach a position on Trident in time all the way up until the Labour leader said he wouldn’t press the button on nuclear weapons. This rendered the nuclear deterrent pointless, even if Labour does decide it wants to upgrade it, and therefore Labour cannot sensibly be in favour of Trident renewal unless it gets a new leader.
How will Corbyn whip his party? He has guaranteed in conversations with the Shadow Cabinet when he appointed them that they would be able to maintain their own positions on nuclear weapons in a free vote, which would allow the SNP to say that Corbyn simply cannot control his party at all and has to let them do their own thing. Nicola Sturgeon was saying that today about last night’s vote which still had a whipping operation in place. Just think of what she and Angus Robertson will say after the Trident vote.
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