Labour CAN Be Trusted With Defence, Says Former Armed Forces Minister

13 May 2017, 12:33 | Updated: 13 May 2017, 12:36

Labour's Former Armed Forces Minister, John Spellar, passionately put forward why he thinks Labour would deal with defence better than the Tories.

While Labour have pledged to keep Trident, this week Leader Jeremy Corbyn cast doubt over the manifesto pledge when he refused to commit to the renewal of the nuclear deterrent.

He said: "The decision of Parliament was to endorse the government’s proposal for the replacement of Trident.

"That is the decision we will inherit as a Labour government and that is what the position is.

"We will also undertake a strategic defence review (SDR) as all incoming governments do looking at all aspects of our defence priorities for the future.

"But we cannot obviously decide what a review would decide otherwise you wouldn’t have a review."

A Labour spokesman clarified Mr Corbyn’s comments and said: "Trident is part of the SDR but it's renewal is not in question".

Iain Dale asked his listeners which party they trust most with defence, and also spoke to Labour's John Spellar, former Vice Chairman of the Defence Sub-Commitee and former Armed Forces Minister.

In this interview Mr Spellar passionately puts forward exactly why he thinks Labour should be trusted with defence.