DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Starmer stands firm on UK's deterrent

It's telling that before today no Labour leader had visited the nuclear shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness for more than 30 years.

For decades the party has been at best ambivalent towards maintaining our ultimate deterrent, at worst downright hostile. Many of its activists still sit firmly in the latter camp.

Less than five years ago, Labour was led by Jeremy Corbyn, who stated publicly that he would never agree to the use of nuclear weapons. His predecessor Ed Miliband wanted only a 'minimum deterrent', hinting that he would cut back our nuclear fleet.

Further back, Michael Foot was a passionate unilateralist and founder of CND. In his 1983 election manifesto (memorably described by MP Gerald Kaufman as the longest suicide note in history) he promised to scrap Trident and pursue a 'non-nuclear defence policy'.

So, Sir Keir Starmer's visit to Barrow and unequivocal commitment not only to maintain the UK's nuclear capability but to enhance it, is hugely significant – and welcome. In a landmark piece for today's Mail, he pledges a 'deterrent triple-lock'.

First, a 'cast-iron' guarantee to build all four new Dreadnought submarines at the Cumbrian yard. Secondly, to keep one or more of our nuclear craft at sea 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thirdly, to deliver all upgrades necessary to 'face the challenges of the decades to come'.

Sir Keir goes further, hailing the AUKUS defence agreement between the UK, Australia, and the US as 'a game-changer' and enthusiastically backing the building of nuclear submarines for the Australian navy at Barrow.

With the growing threat from China, this alliance is crucial and may well be joined in future by other countries, such as Japan who fear Beijing's expansionism.

(It's worth noting that AUKUS could never have happened without Boris Johnson and the Brexit that Sir Keir so bitterly opposed, as it would undoubtedly have been vetoed in Brussels.)

'My changed Labour Party is utterly committed to our nation's defence,' Sir Keir writes. This declaration will have some within his party sputtering with indignation. But it is clever politics.

Defence has historically been Labour's weak spot, but not today. A recent poll for the Mail showed that – remarkably – they are now more trusted to keep us safe than the Tories. Sir Keir clearly means to press home his advantage.

The Conservatives have only themselves to blame. Their recent legacy is a hollowed-out military, massively expensive aircraft carriers that don't seem to work, and a recruitment crisis in all three services.

Their failure to spend even 2.5 per cent of national income on defence in such dangerous times completes a picture of complacency and penny-pinching.

As Mr Johnson put it yesterday, obsessing about such things as anti-smoking legislation while neglecting the defence of the realm is 'absolutely nuts'.

We have yet to see the Labour manifesto, of course, and whether Sir Keir's pledges make the final draft intact. There will be huge pressure from the party's sizeable peacenik contingency to dilute them.

He isn't promising to spend more or offering much in the way of new vision. And so far, we have only rhetoric to judge him by. But this is nevertheless a signal moment.

Sir Keir hopes to persuade the public our nuclear capability, military alliances and national security are safe in his hands. If he can, he will remove one more of the dwindling number of reasons to vote Tory.