The majority of MPs voted to maintain the UK's minimum strategic nuclear deterrent beyond the life of the existing system.

MPs were considering the following motion:

• That this House
• supports the Government's decisions, as set out in the White Paper The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent (Cm 6994), to take the steps necessary to maintain the UK's minimum strategic nuclear deterrent beyond the life of the existing system and to take further steps towards meeting the UK's disarmament responsibilities under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In this vote majority of MPs voted against changing the above motion supporting the Government's nuclear weapons policy to one which read.^[1]

• This House
• notes the Government's decision, as set out in the White Paper The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent (Cm 6994),^[2] to take the steps necessary to maintain the UK minimum strategic nuclear deterrent beyond the life of the existing system and to take further steps towards meeting the United Kingdom's disarmament responsibilities under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty,^[3]
• but believes that the case is not yet proven and remains unconvinced of the need for an early decision.

The Government's original motion, still intact, was subsequently voted for by a majority of MPs.^[4]

Seven MPs voted inconsistently between the two motions.^[5]

• [1] John Trickett MP, House of Commons, 14 March 2007
• [2] The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent, December 2006
• [3] Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Second Pillar, Wikipedia
• [4] Trident Replacement - Maintain nuclear deterrent beyond existing system, House of Commons, 14 March 2007
• [5] Comparison of Trident Replacement votes, House of Commons, 14 March 2007

The majority of MPs voted to maintain the UK's minimum strategic nuclear deterrent beyond the life of the existing system.

The majority of MPs voted for the motion:^[1]

• This House
• supports the Government's decisions, as set out in the White Paper The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent (Cm 6994),^[2] to take the steps necessary to maintain the UK's minimum strategic nuclear deterrent beyond the life of the existing system and to take further steps towards meeting the UK's disarmament responsibilities under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.^[3]

This followed a previous vote against asserting that the case was "not yet proven",^[4] and was recognized as Parliamentary authorization for the development of a new generation of submarines and launch vehicles for the deployment of ballistic nuclear weapons against targets unknown.^[5][6]

• [1] Margaret Beckett MP, House of Commons, 14 March 2007
• [2] The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent, December 2006
• [3] Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Second Pillar, Wikipedia
• [4] Trident Replacement - Case not yet proven - rejected, House of Commons, 14 March 2007
• [4] Trident Plan wins Commons support, BBC News, 15 March 2007
• [5] British replacement of the Trident system, Wikipedia

The majority of MPs voted in favour of renewing the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system.

The motion rejected by the majority of MPs taking part in this vote was:

• That this House believes that Trident should not be renewed.

The majority of MPs voted in favour of proposed spending cuts and changes to the welfare system and in favour of spending on new nuclear weapons.

The debate on the content of the government's legislative programme outlined Queens' speech is technically, and traditionally, on the subject of a message of thanks which the house is to send the monarch for making the speech.

The motion under consideration was:

• That an Humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, as follows:
• Most Gracious Sovereign,
• We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.

The amendment rejected following this vote sought to add the following to the end of the message:

• but
• regret that the measures set out do not adequately meet the challenges facing the majority of people across the UK;
• call in particular for your Government to change course on plans for further austerity spending cuts, to reconsider changes to the welfare state that will hit many of the most vulnerable people in our country and to halt proposals to waste £100 billion on new nuclear weapons at a time when vital public services are being squeezed across the country; and
• recognise the overwhelming mandate in Scotland for both the early implementation, in full, of the Smith Commission proposals and the delivery of additional powers for the Scottish Parliament including new powers on job creation, to improve living standards and to protect the welfare state in Scotland.

Proposals to renew the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent have been reported to be costed at around £100bn^[1].

The Conservative party's manifesto for the 2015 elections^[2] stated: "We will find £12 billion from welfare savings".

• [1] Trident: Parliament debates £100bn project - at last., Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, 20 January 2015
• [2] Conservative Party Manifesto 2015 (PDF)

The majority of MPs voted in favour of renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent programme.

The motion rejected by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House
• believes that Trident should not be renewed.

The majority of MPs voted against calling for the Government to outline a positive vision for the UK’s continued membership of the EU; for spending £200 billion on new nuclear weapons; against abolishing the House of Lords; against meaningful devolution to the nations and regions of the UK and against contributing to the resolution of the refugee crisis in Europe.

The debate on the content of the government's legislative programme outlined in the Queens' speech is technically, and traditionally, on the subject of a message of thanks which the house is to send the monarch for making the speech.

The motion under consideration was:

• That an Humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, as follows:
• Most Gracious Sovereign,
• We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.

The amendment rejected in this vote sought to add the following to the end of the message:

• “but
• regret that the measures set out fail to meet the challenges facing the majority of people living in the nations and regions of the UK;
• call in particular for your Government to change course on plans for austerity spending cuts, which are damaging the UK’s economic growth and punishing the incomes of hardworking people, and to consider a modest investment in public services to stimulate economic growth; and
• further call on your Government to withdraw proposals to waste as much as £200 billion on new nuclear weapons, to go further than the recommendations of the Strathclyde Review by abolishing the House of Lords, to work more respectfully with the nations and regions of the UK to deliver meaningful devolution, to acknowledge its responsibility as a member of the international community in contributing to the resolution of the refugee crisis in Europe and to acknowledge its responsibility to outline a positive vision for the UK’s continued membership of the EU.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament claims renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system will cost £205bn^[1]

• [1] No to Trident webpage, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The majority of MPs voted to support replacing the four Trident nuclear missile submarines to maintain the UK's continuous at sea nuclear deterrence posture.

The majority of MPs were also voting to support work towards multilateral disarmament.

The motion supported by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House
• supports the Government’s assessment in the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review that the UK’s independent minimum credible nuclear deterrent, based on a Continuous at Sea Deterrence posture, will remain essential to the UK's security today as it has for over 60 years, and for as long as the global security situation demands, to deter the most extreme threats to the UK's national security and way of life and that of the UK's allies;
• supports the decision to take the necessary steps required to maintain the current posture by replacing the current Vanguard Class submarines with four Successor submarines;
• recognises the importance of this programme to the UK’s defence industrial base and in supporting thousands of highly skilled engineering jobs;
• notes that the Government will continue to provide annual reports to Parliament on the programme;
• recognises that the UK remains committed to reducing its overall nuclear weapon stockpile by the mid-2020s; and
• supports the Government’s commitment to continue work towards a safer and more stable world, pressing for key steps towards multilateral disarmament.

*Pressure of other work means MPs or Lords are not always available to vote – it does not always indicate they have abstained. Therefore, being absent on a less important vote makes a disproportionatly small difference.