Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Lib Dem conference: Better to take ‘small steps’ towards disarmament

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie insisted it was better to take “small steps” towards disarmament than none at all as party activists rejected a call to scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons.

New UK party head Tim Farron saw off his first test in charge after urging party members to oppose a motion demanding plans to renew the Trident system, based at Clyde Naval Base, be thrown out.

An amendment backed by the leadership, committing the party’s MPs and peers to vote against the like-for-like replacement of the Trident system but not endorsing unilateral disarmament, was passed by 579 votes to 447.

Speaking in the debate, Mr Rennie said the Lib Dems had a “credible plan” that posed a challenge to the Conservative and Labour “orthodoxy”.

He added: “I would rather that we take small steps towards disarmament than no steps at all.

“I do not want us to adopt a position of comfort in opposition.

“We want to be a serious party of government. These are geopolitical issues, a delicate balance. We can have a big influence in the world unless we withdraw from the debate.”

Former Cambridge MP Julian Huppert, who was ousted in May, said the best chance for nuclear disarmament was to “show we will take action ourselves”.

But party grandees, including Baroness Shirley Williams and former deputy leader Sir Simon Hughes lined up in support of the amendment, which establishes a working group “to develop policy on the future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, if any, following a full consultation within the party”.

Gerald Vernon-Jackson, who stood in the Portsmouth South seat at the general election, warned activists that passing the motion in favour of unilateral disarmament would be “like the Labour Party voting for Jeremy Corbyn – it feels nice at the time but it will lead to electoral disaster”.

It would be a “hammer blow” in Tory-facing seats and could “torpedo” Mr Farron’s leadership, he said.

After winning, Mr Farron said he was very pleased with the result.

He added: “We believe that we should disarm but we should disarm internationally alongside other countries, with Britain being at the table arguing the case for disarmament.”