GMB union warns Scottish Labour against anti-Trident vote

A MAJOR trade union has warned Scottish Labour against voting to scrap Trident at a crunch debate expected on the issue at the party’s annual conference this weekend.

Picture: TSPL

The GMB union has called on Scottish Labour to “get real” on the prospect of opposing the renewal of Trident, warning that scrapping the system would lead to “yard and factory closures, job losses and rising levels of poverty”.

GMB Scotland, the union for shipyard and defence workers, has written to its members in the defence sector ahead of a debate at the Scottish Labour Party conference starting in Perth, which open on Friday.

Gary Smith, GMB Scotland acting secretary warned that scrapping Trident would have a damaging impact on the UK’s ability to defend itself and would lead to devastating job losses.

He said: “The 40,000 defence workers in Scotland are as vital to our national security as the armed forces. Without the skills of the workforce in the yards on the Clyde and Rosyth the Royal Navy could not defend the nation.

“It makes no sense to abandon our longstanding overall defence strategy unilaterally for solely political reasons. That goes for Trident and the jobs at Faslane and Barrow.

“For all the talk about diversification the reality will not be more schools or hospitals but yard and factory closures, job losses and rising levels of poverty.

“The Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Government need to get real on jobs.”