THE British Armed Forces deserve better political representation than was shown by Labour yesterday.

Yesterday’s SNP debate on renewing the Trident weapons system mattered.

Labour dismissed it as an SNP stunt. And in fairness, it probably was.

Opposition day debates are not binding. They do not have the power to change law. Yet they are a vital part of our democracy. They are an opportunity for an opposition party to bring an issue that matters to them to the fore. It forces the Government to address the issue the opposition want addressed.

They can be powerful tools in the armoury of the opposition, and though they may not change legislation they can change minds and change the fortunes of a political party.

Yesterday, Labour abstained. They would not play the SNP games, they said.

What utter nonsense.

Labour know the game. If they had shown some backbone, or even an inch of the bravery, courage and selflessness of the military then they would have been there in the chamber.

If they want to beat the SNP at any game then they should have turned up and argued against them or argued for them.

Labour could have done it together on an agreed party line or they could have allowed MPs to vote with their conscience.

But Labour don’t have an agreed party line because they keep kicking the conversation into the long grass. It will be a difficult and unpleasant conversation and so they avoid it.

If this Opposition day debate shows us anything, it is that Labour don’t want to take the big decisions.

Labour’s MPs were voted in to take the big decisions. Jeremy Corbyn was elected to take the big decisions.

If Corbyn wants to know why he and his party are haemorrhaging support in the polls, it is because people are waiting for that once-grand party to actually do something.

Labour MPs help to beat SNP on Trident as Jeremy Corbyn abstains