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Allan Tunningley

Latest articles from Allan Tunningley

Allan Todd being arrestested during the climate change protest in London

Cumbrians join in Climate Change protest in London

A GROUP of Cumbrians joined 6,000 climate change protesters on Saturday as they closed down five London bridges as part of a series of non-violent direct action events co-ordinated by newly established group Extinction Rebellion.

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John Woodcock

Trident renewal row is reignited

JEREMY Corbyn’s refusal to publicly endorse his party’s established line on renewing Trident has reignited a row with Barrow-and-Furness MP John Woodcock. The Labour leader appeared to throw the nuclear deterrent’s prospects into doubt on Sunday when he declined to back renewal when interviewed on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. After being asked if the programme would be cancelled if there is a Labour government, Mr Corbyn, a lifelong supporter of unilateral nuclear disarmament, told Mr Marr: “We will have a strategic defence review immediately, which will include all aspects of defence. We would then look at the situation at that time.” The Labour leader’s refusal to back Trident incensed Mr Woodcock, who has said he would never vote for Mr Corbyn to lead the country. Mr Woodcock, who is expected to seek re-election as the Labour candidate, defending a majority of just 795, told his constituents in a Facebook video: “I am intending to seek the re-nomination from my local Labour and Co-operative Parties to be their official candidate  “But I will not countenance ever voting to make Jeremy Corbyn Britain’s Prime Minister “I realise that Jeremy has been elected and then re-elected as the leader of my party, but my first duty is to you, my constituents. “Jeremy’s opposition to the Trident renewal programme is lifelong and is well known, but more than that I cannot countenance endorsing him for a role which I think even he, although he may say differently in front of the cameras, does not think he is fit to carry out. Now my party, locally and nationally, will need to decide how to treat my desire for reselection in these circumstances. “There is still of course time for Jeremy to stand down rather than lead Labour to defeat. But I promised when I first asked you to vote for me that I would put Furness first and that means in these circumstances doing what is right rather than what is easy.” l Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron criticised Jeremy Corbyn for being "weak and dangerous" on defence and said his party would "maintain a credible nuclear deterrent" if it won power. “Our nuclear deterrent keeps us at the top table in this post-Brexit world,” he said. But Mr Farron advocated replacing the current system of continuous-at-sea deterrence with more irregular patrolling patterns. And he accused Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of being “weak and dangerous” on defence matters. Earlier this week, Mr Corbyn - a long-standing opponent of nuclear weapons - said “all aspects” of defence would be reviewed if he won power in the snap election on 8 June. “I have made clear there would be no first use of it and that any use of nuclear weapons would be a disaster for the world,” he told Andrew Marr on BBC One. His party, however, issued a statement later the same day clarifying that Labour as a whole was in favour of renewing the existing Trident nuclear weapons system. MPs overwhelmingly voted earlier this year to build four new submarines to carry missiles armed with nuclear warheads. They are intended to replace the existing Vanguard fleet from the early 2030s at an estimated cost of £31bn.

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