ON Monday night, MPs voted overwhelmingly to renew the UK’s nuclear weapons system, Trident.

All but eight Conservative MPs voted in favour, with seven abstaining and one, Crispin Blunt, voting against.

Labour MPs were given a free vote, and 140 voted in favour.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and 46 other Labour MPs voted against the renewal, as did all 52 Scottish National Party MPs and seven Liberal Democrat MPs.

The result of the vote was 471 in favour and 116 against

The vote supported a Government motion which includes a plan to replace the existing submarine fleet, which carry nuclear missiles around the globe, with four new Successor submarines.

Renewal of the deterrent is predicted to cost £31 billion, with a £10 billion contingency fund set aside.

Prime Minister Theresa May warned it would be a “reckless gamble” for the UK to rely on other nations for its nuclear deterrent, and that discarding the Trident weapons system would be an “act of gross irresponsibility” by the Government.

Shipley Conservative MP Philip Davies said having nuclear weapons was essential to protect the country.

He said: “The first duty of the Government is to protect the public.

“In a more and more uncertain world, as more and more rogue states are getting closer to developing a nuclear capability, I believe it would be negligent for us to get rid of our independent nuclear capability.”

And Kris Hopkins, the Conservative MP for Keighley, said: “We can have no way of knowing what threats our country might face in 30 or 40 years from now.

“Maintaining our nuclear deterrent is therefore paramount and the only approach any responsible United Kingdom government should adopt.

“Conservative MPs overwhelmingly backed the motion to renew Trident and I pay tribute to those Labour colleagues who ignored their party leader and chose to vote with us.”

But Labour MPs Naz Shah (Bradford West) and Imran Hussain (Bradford East) both voted against Trident.

Ms Shah said: “I took my vote on Trident very seriously not just for me and my constituents now but for the future generations.

“I believe we all would like to live in a world free of nuclear weapons and a world free of war.

“I also reflected the harm that nuclear weapons can do and I was reluctant to have whole populations wiped out.

“Killing potentially millions of people and holding them accountable for the actions of their governments is I think wrong.

“Another reason why I voted against renewal of Trident is that the nature of the threats we as a nation face are different to the Cold War era and I believe that spending the money on education of our young people and making the world a fairer place is a far better investment in the long run.

“It’s better to build than to destroy and by their very nature nuclear weapons exist to destroy.”

Imran Hussain said the money spent on renewing Trident could be better spent elsewhere.

He said: “I appreciate that there are strongly held views on both sides of the Trident debate, but given the nature of nuclear weapons and the indiscriminate devastation to civilians that they cause,

“I cannot in all good conscience vote for their renewal, particularly at a time when the substantial cost associated with them can be put to better use investing in our NHS, our national infrastructure and reducing poverty.”

Bradford South Labour MP Judith Cummins did not vote on Trident as she was away from the Commons as part of a long-arranged parliamentary delegation, but criticised the Government for holding the vote.

“This week’s vote was unnecessary, and was orchestrated by this Government for no other reason than setting a very thinly veiled political bear trap.

“Rather than spending precious time debating Trident, Theresa May should get on with sorting the things that really matter to my constituents; fair and decent wages, more affordable housing, and getting on with striking trade deals following the UK’s Brexit vote.”

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which has its Yorkshire base in Bradford, also condemned the decision accusing MPs of adopting a ‘head in the sand’ approach.

Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said: “Parliament has had an ill-informed, head-in-the-sand debate, short on facts and ignoring Trident’s irrelevance to the security challenges that we face today.

“Committing to a system that will be rendered obsolete by technological challenges inspires no confidence whatsoever in this government’s ability to spend public money to good purpose.

“Monday’s decision demonstrated a failure of vision on the part of our government; this was a once in a generation opportunity to break with this antiquated weapons system and address our defence needs in ways appropriate to the 21st century.”