Corbyn and Sturgeon revive spirit of 1980s at Trident protest

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in central London on Saturday as Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon led a rally that reignited the anti-Trident passions of the 1980s.

The Labour leader and the Scottish first minister were among more than a dozen politicians, actors, musicians and other public figures who spoke at the Stop Trident march, the biggest CND event for decades.

Sturgeon denounced Trident as “immoral” and “impractical”, while Corbyn said he believed in a “nuclear-free Britain and a nuclear-free future”.

But his willingness to share a platform with Sturgeon as well as Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, former Green party leader Caroline Lucas and actress Vanessa Redgrave was criticised by his Labour colleagues.

Proof of splits in Labour came from Michael Dugher, who was sacked as shadow culture secretary last month.

“For Jeremy to share a platform with many of Labour’s political opponents and denounce what is still Labour policy is quite frankly barmy,” he said, later tweeting: “The Tories must think it’s Christmas.”

Protesters gathered at Marble Arch, then marched to Trafalgar Square to hear speaker after speaker criticise the government’s plan to renew Britain’s nuclear submarine programme.

Many of the demonstrators remembered the Hyde Park rally of 1983, when 300,000 people called for nuclear disarmament.

Gillian Dalley, 72, from north London, had arrived at the march with two friends, Carol Mills, 72, who had travelled from Hull, and Vicki Potter, 69, who had come 10,000 miles from Sydney.

“We’re totally mystified why they could spend so much public money on something that is totally useless,” said Dalley, who was arrested outside the US embassy in the 1970s during an anti-nuclear-missile protest.

“Back then we thought it was the end of the world. Now it just seems so out of date, so redundant,” said Potter, a retired teacher.

A common refrain among the protesters was the cost of renewing Trident during a period of austerity. Many carried placards reading “Books, Not Bombs” or “Cut War, Not Welfare” or the “NHS, Not Trident”.

Buying four new submarines capable of carrying the nuclear warheads will cost around £31bn over 20 years, according to the Ministry of Defence, as well as a contingency fund of another £10bn.

Figures obtained by Tory MP Crispin Blunt last year indicate that the total cost may be much more. The cost of manufacturing and running Trident until 2060 could reach £167bn, about 6% of the total defence budget, or more than double the existing cost, according to Blunt.

Corbyn has begun a review of Labour’s pro-Trident policy, led by shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry. She, like Corbyn, favours unilateral disarmament but others, including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, prefer multilateral action. MPs are expected to vote on Trident later this year.

Corbyn told the crowd: “If a nuclear war took place, there would be mass destruction on both sides of the conflict.

“We live in a world where so many things are possible. Where peace is possible in so many places. You don’t achieve peace by planning for war … and not respecting … human rights.

“Today’s demonstration is an expression of many … opinions and views. I’m here because I believe in a nuclear-free Britain and a nuclear-free future.”

Sturgeon said the SNP would make Trident a political issue at the elections in May. “It is the norm in the world today to be nuclear-free,” she said. “It is the exception to the rule to possess nuclear weapons: let that ring out loudly and clearly.

Caroline Lucas, now chair of Parliamentary CND, described nuclear weaponry as “a cold war relic”, adding: “To contemplate using nuclear weapons is both illegal and immoral.”

• This article was amended on 2 March 2016 to correct Caroline Lucas’s position as head of Parliamentary CND.