You can only trust the Conservatives with Trident

You can only trust the Conservatives with Trident

First, a quote from an article that appeared in The Times under the headline, "Nuclear bombshell threatens to blow BAE Systems’ plans out of the water":

“It is Friday, May 8. The acting leader of the Labour party has been called to the palace to be asked to form a coalition with the couple of dozen of SNP MPs, a handful of Plaid Cymru members and Greens and the splintered remnants of the fractured Liberal Democrats. The news is a disaster for BAE Systems Maritime. It could be a catastrophe for the town of Barrow-in-Furness.”

Everyone knows that the next election is going to be tight.

I'm confident that the hard work that the Conservative-led government has put in is paying off, and come the election voters will give my party another term in office to finish the job - to pay down the remainder of the deficit and continue on the path to a more prosperous and fair Britain. Certainly that is what I, and everyone I know in the party, is working towards.

But that said, the surge in support for UKIP, the Greens and the SNP makes national predictions very difficult. The latest Scottish polling by Lord Ashcroft, for instance, will make very difficult reading for Ed Miliband as it shows that Labour is facing a wipe-out in its traditional heartlands.

That may not seem that relevant to Barrow & Furness, but it actually is incredibly important. Losing 20 or so Scottish Labour MPs means that in the event of a close election Ed Miliband will have to do a deal with another party to get into power. And what those other political parties are saying about Trident is seriously bad news for Barrow & Furness: 

• The SNP have drawn a 'red line' saying that they will only do a deal with Labour if they agree to scrap Trident.
• Plaid Cymru have said the same.
• The Greens want to scrap the deterrent entirely.
• The Lib Dems have said that they want to move to a 'part time' deterrent.

And, to be complete, Ed Miliband says that he wants the 'least cost' option - hardly what I'd call a vote of support.

So, if Labour gets into power, it will be in a coalition. And every likely partner in that coalition wants to either scrap, delay or weaken the deterrent. Three of them have scrapping it as a 'red line' issue - something they just won't bend on.

That is why a Labour-led coalition will be a disaster for Barrow.

If faced with the choice of climbing the steps to Number 10 and saving Barrow, I have no doubt that Ed Miliband will sell Barrow down the river. To be fair, his potential coalition partners won't give him a choice.

And let's be clear what that means: about 10% of the workforce in Barrow & Furness are directly employed by BAE and at least another 10% work in supply chain businesses, supporting the work of the yard. That's 1 in 5 people whose livelihoods depend on the next government renewing Trident. And quite aside from that, the company supports hundreds of apprentices, helps our schools and colleges, and brings new talent into the area.

It is often said that the yard is Barrow and Barrow is the yard. It's hard to understate that fact. There is unprecedented investment going into Barrow & Furness at the moment, but we can't afford to be complacent and sleepwalk into a crisis.

ONLY the Conservatives can guarantee that they will renew Trident. Only the Conservatives can guarantee that the investment keeps flowing. And only the Conservatives can ensure that the jobs, apprenticeships and skills which BAE supports will be safe.

The polls show that Labour can't win outright. They're not in control of their own destiny any more. A Labour-led coalition would be devastating for Barrow.

Only by voting Conservative can you guarantee Barrow's prosperity.