Trident and the Democratic Deficit

Last nights debate and vote on the future of Trident was a disaster for democracy, particularly in Yorkshire, where not a single MP from major cities such as Leeds or Sheffield bothered to vote either way. Repeated polls have shown that the majority of the UK electorate are opposed to the renewal of Trident especially in the current economic conditions, but how is that majority represented by UK political parties? Trident replacement will represent the largest single public spending decision of the next Parliament, what does it mean for democracy that half of our local MPs didn’t even turn up to hear the debate?

It is interesting to note that as it currently stands, at the upcoming election leaders debate will only host supporters of Trident renewal. We need to ensure that parliamentary candidates from all parties know the strength of our opposition to more public spending on weapons on mass destruction. So please do write to your candidates.

Voters who supported the Liberal Democrats at the last election due to their campaigning on Trident will no doubt have been dismayed to see that when the issue was finally discussed in Parliament, only 10% of the party’s MPs nationally turned out to vote last night. Not a single LibDem MP from Yorkshire voted.

Below is a breakdown of how Yorkshire MPs voted on the motion to Scrap Trident.

For more see the BBC coverage of the vote.