Government left divided as Trident rebels defeated

Tony Blair has handed Gordon Brown the legacy of divided government after suffering his biggest revolt since the Iraq war in the vote for a replacement for Britain's £65bn Trident nuclear deterrent.

Ninety-five Labour MPs, including the former ministers Michael Meacher, Gavin Strang and Frank Dobson, voted against the Government on a rebel motion calling for the decision on Trident to be delayed. It was defeated with Tory support by 167 votes to 413. The motion in favour of building new Trident submarines was passed by 409 votes to 161. It exceeded the 72 who rebelled on student top-up fees some years ago.

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Last night's vote means that Britain will be able to order the "design and concept" phase of the new nuclear submarines, but the Government has been split over the issue.

A minister who resigned from the Government to vote against the Trident decision, Nigel Griffiths, called on Mr Brown to change direction after Mr Blair by making Britain "a country for peace, not war".

"We have led the world in campaigning to meet the Kyoto targets, we have led the fight to eradicate global poverty. We must lead the world in campaigning for the eradication of the nuclear threat and we must lead by example," he said.

The Prime Minister now faces ridicule by the Tory leader, David Cameron, for having to rely on Tory votes to secure support for the continuation of a British-built nuclear deterrent.

Critics of Mr Blair said they believed the vote could become a watershed for his apparently unquestioning support for US-led foreign policy in the White House under President George Bush. Allies of Mr Brown also accused Mr Blair of storing up more trouble for the Chancellor by offering a new vote before giving final approval to the missiles and nuclear warheads for the new deterrent.

In a last-minute effort to reduce the rebellion, Mr Blair said: "When you get to the gateway stage between 2012 and 2014 where you actually let the main contract for the design and construction, at that point in time, of course it is always open to parliament to take a decision."

Despite pressure by the whips, Stephen Pound announced he was quitting as the parliamentary private secretary to Hazel Blears, the Labour chairman, after voting against the Government. The former home secretary Charles Clarke announced he was unhappy with the decision and voted against the Government.

One ally of Mr Brown said Mr Blair had sabotaged the handover of power to Mr Brown. "Blair is storing up trouble for Gordon and he is damaging the Government almost beyond repair," he said. "It may have gone too far to pull back now."

The Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, and Des Brown, the Defence Secretary, sent a joint letter to moderates in the rebel camp, stressing they would have another opportunity to vote on Trident. "Further decisions will be required on the precise design of the submarines and whether we need four or three to maintain the deterrent," they wrote.

"The White Paper also notes that we will need to decide whether to renew or replace the warhead, whether to participate in any US programme to develop a successor to the D5 missile and, subsequently, whether to acquire such a successor. It will fall to future governments and parliaments to discuss the most appropriate form of parliamentary scrutiny for these downstream decisions."

The former defence minister, Peter Kilfoyle, said that the Commons was " being bounced" into a decision. He said that as a minister he had been told the submarines would last 30 years, but the life span of the subs was being cut to 25 years for a political decision to be taken last night.

Claims and counter-claims

Claim: The decision can be delayed...

Government says:

This is not a decision we can delay. We must make a decision now so that the first new boat can enter service in 2024. But Mr Blair has admitted that this only applies to the "concept and design" phase of the submarines. Another vote could take place in the next Parliament on the warheads.

Verdict:

The Commons Defence Select Committee has said all the systems could last long enough to delay making a decision on replacement until 2010. The Liberal Democrats say a decision would not be absolutely necessary until 2014. Critics say that Tony Blair is seeking to "tick a box" in his legacy before he goes in the summer.

Claim: The cost of the deterrent is going up to £76bn...

Government says:

This is massively inflated - the capital cost will be £15-20bn and running costs around £1.5bn a year.

Verdict:

The true cost to the taxpayer is £57.5bn by the MoD's own figures over 25 years, and £65bn over 30 years. That would pay for a lot of hospitals. And if you still want an answer to blackmail by a rogue state, nuclear tipped cruise missiles would be a lot cheaper.

Claim: There has not been any debate on the Trident issue...

Government says:

The Government has debated it extensively.

Verdict:

Last week the Commons had two days for Lords reform but only one day had been set aside yesterday for the Trident Commons debate.

Claim: Trident's replacement will breach the Non-Proliferation Treaty requiring signatories including Britain to gradually disarm. It is therefore illegal...

Government says:

Trident 2 will be legal. The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) recognises the legality of possession of nuclear weapons while imposing an obligation to pursue disarmament.

Verdict:

The Attorney General who briefed the Cabinet that the war on Iraq was legal is on shaky ground again - Professor Philippe Sands QC of Matrix Chambers told the defence committee "attempts to justify Trident upgrade or replacement as an insurance against unascertainable future threats would appear to be inconsistent with Article Vl of the NPT." Hans Blix, the former UN weapons inspector, also said in November that it would make it more difficult to stop Iran acquiring the bomb.

Labour split

Ministers who quit: Jim Devine, 53, Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rosie Winterton; Nigel Griffiths, 51, Deputy Leader of the House under Jack Straw; Chris Ruane, 48, PPS to Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary; and Steve Pound, 58, PPS to Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairman.

Rebel MPs: Diane Abbott, John Austin, Anne Begg, Joe Benton, Roger Berry, Karen Buck, Richard Burden, Colin Burgon, Ronnie Campbell, Martin Caton, David Chaytor, Katy Clark, Charles Clarke, Harry Cohen, Michael Connarty, Frank Cook, Jeremy Corbyn, Jim Cousins, Jonathan Cruddas, Ann Cryer, John Cummings, Ian Davidson, Janet Dean, Jim Devine, Jim Dobbin, Frank Dobson, Frank Doran, David Drew, Clive Efford, Jeff Ennis, Bill Etherington, Mark Fisher, Paul Flynn, Michael Jabez Foster, Neil Gerrard, Dr Ian Gibson, Roger Godsiff, Nia Griffith, John Grogan, David Hamilton, Fabian Hamilton, Dai Havard, David Heyes, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Eric Illsley, Glenda Jackson, Sian James, Dr Lynne Jones, Peter Kilfoyle, Mark Lazarowicz, David Lepper, Tony Lloyd, Christine McCafferty, John McDonnell, Ann McKechin, Andrew Mackinlay, David Marshall, Bob Marshall-Andrews, Michael Meacher, Alan Meale, Austin Mitchell, Julie Morgan, George Mudie, Chris Mullin, Denis Murphy, Dr Doug Naysmith, Sandra Osborne, Stephen Pound, Gordon Prentice, Ken Purchase, Linda Riordan, Chris Ruane, Joan Ruddock, Mohammad Sarwar, Alan Simpson, Marsha Singh, Dennis Skinner, Andrew Smith, Sir Peter Soulsby, Ian Stewart, Dr Howard Stoate, Gavin Strang, Graham Stringer, Jon Trickett, Paul Truswell, Dr Desmond Turner, Rudi Vis, Joan Walley, Robert Wareing, Betty Williams, David Winnick, Mike Wood, Anthony Wright, David Taylor

Blair vs the back benches

WELFARE, 1999: Sixty-seven Labour backbenchers rebelled in 1999 over plans to cut incapacity benefit in the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill.

IRAQ, 2003: Largest rebellion faced by Tony Blair was over the decision to go to war in March 2003. 139 Labour MPs defied the Government. On the domestic side, 65 rebelled over foundation hospitals.

TOP-UP FEES, 2004: The largest domestic rebellion came when 72 Labour MPs voted against plans in the Higher Education Bill for university top-up fees.

TRUST SCHOOLS, 2006: Mr Blair had to rely on Conservative support last year when 69 Labour backbenchers rebelled over plans to introduce trust schools.