BARROW'S MP has said that Labour cannot be trusted with the Furness economy after reports that several party frontbenchers previously called for Britain to scrap its nuclear deterrent.

Shadow cabinet members have reportedly backed unilateral disarmament through the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

It came into force in January 2021 and commits its signatories, who do not include Britain, 'not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons'.

Signing it would make the Trident nuclear missile deterrent programme, whose submarines are built in Barrow, and the UK's possession of nuclear weapons immediately illegal, according to reports.

The Labour party has stressed its 'unshakeable' support for nuclear deterrence.

Barrow MP Simon Fell said: "This is deeply worrying. Despite Sir Keir Starmer's efforts to clean up his party, it shows that Labour is still very much the party of Corbyn, arguing to scrap the Barrow-built deterrent, making us all less safe as a result. 

"I'd ask that Sir Keir removes these dangerous elements from his front bench.

"If he fails to do so then he is just demonstrating that Labour have not changed and cannot be trusted with our nation's defence, or with Furness' economy."

Shadow defence minister Rachel Hopkins and shadow levelling up minister Paula Barker were said to have signed an Early Day Motion in 2021, which called on the UK to support the TPNW and 'bring forward a credible and timetabled plan for the disarmament of the UK's nuclear weapons'.

Frontbenchers including transport spokesman Louise Haigh, shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray, and shadow Foreign Office ministers Catherine West and Fabian Hamilton pledged to 'work for the ratification of the TPNW'.

Labour said its support for nuclear deterrence was 'total', adding: "It provides protection to our Nato allies, as well as the UK. Under Keir Starmer, Labour's support for Nato, our nuclear deterrent, the UN and our Armed Forces is unshakeable."

Controversy surrounded the Labour party going into the last General Election in 2019, when then-leader Jeremy Corbyn was viewed as opposed to nuclear weapons and the renewal of Britain's nuclear deterrent.

Amid fears for Barrow's shipyard, the party and unions stressed that Labour was committed to the Trident submarine programme.

During the election campaign Nia Griffith, the then shadow defence secretary, accused the Conservatives of ‘making mischief’ in saying a Labour government would not be committed to the shipyard.