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.”