Labour will not rule out scrapping Trident scheme

The shadow defence secretary is carrying out a wholesale review of Labour’s policy, including the contentious issue of retaining the Trident nuclear system.

She backed a future defence policy increasingly based on capabilities dubbed “geeks, spooks and thugs” - cyber experts, spies and special forces - as she questioned whether nuclear submarines would provide long-term value for money.

Ms Thornberry condemned cuts to the Army as a result of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), claiming it was now “at its smallest size since the Napoleonic wars”, while the Royal Navy’s fleet had been reduced and the RAF was relying on 40-year-old Tornados.

But asked whether her policy review would include the commitment to meeting the Nato target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence, she said: “I can’t say at the moment, I’m afraid. Also, a big question is what do you include in the two per cent?”

In a speech at defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, she acknowledged the concerns caused by Russian president Vladimir Putin’s actions.

“Events in Georgia and in Crimea have shown Putin’s interest in expanding Russia’s sphere of influence, and his willingness to use military force in order to do so,” she said.

Russian submarines in the North Sea and bombers flying off the coast of Cornwall “can be deeply unsettling” and “against this background, it is perhaps understandable that some would not even contemplate a rethink of our current strategy on nuclear weapons”.

“But it is incumbent on all of us, I think, to try to look at this issue from a pragmatic point of view rather than an ideological one.”