"I voted last night to support the renewing of Trident.
I have met with and listened carefully to constituents and thank all those who have contacted me and written to me telling me their passionately held views about not renewing Trident and I completely understand their position.
However, overall I do believe having our own nuclear deterrent is in the best interests of our country right now and in the decades to come because Trident is part of Britain’s global defence strategy in what is an increasingly insecure world. The statement from our new Prime Minister yesterday made a compelling case.
Just in the last few days we have witnessed another terrorist outrage in France and an attempted coup in Turkey. There is war in Syria and Iraq and we are coping with an increasingly bellicose Russia intimidating our NATO allies in Eastern Europe.
We cannot afford to be blackmailed by nuclear armed adversaries and it would be irresponsible not to consider what threats might emerge in the future. There are nuclear weapons in this world and it has to be prudent to be in control of some of them.
Not renewing would also send a message at this critical time that the UK is prepared to weaken its defences and not to play a major role in world security alongside the US and our other NATO allies.
This security has worked for the last 70 years due to having a nuclear deterrent and I see no reason to move away from this position.
None of these decisions are taken lightly. But the first duty of Government is vowing to and being able to keep your country safe. I strongly believe in our 2% GDP commitment on Defence alongside our DIFD responsibilities."