MPs to get a vote on Trident renewal

Jack Straw has told MPs that there will be a vote in the House of Commons on whether to renew Britain's nuclear deterrent.
There have been persistent questions about renewal at PMQ, with left-wingers like Jeremy Corbett annoyed that the government seems to have made the decision already. Many MPs were shocked that Gordon Brown seemed to say he would both retain the present Trident system and renew it, at an estimated cost of 20 billion pounds.
The current missiles were ordered from the Americans in the 1980s, and the House did not vote on the decision then. Trident will become obselete by 2020. As Britain needs American permission to launch the missiles, there are issues around just how independent the UK nuclear deterrent actually is.
The vote could see large amount of Labour rebels voting against renewal - only retention was mentioned in the 2005 Labour party manifesto.
Jack Straw told MPs:

"The position of this was set up by the Prime Minister two weeks ago when he did point out that we were the first government to give the House a vote over decisions to go to war.

"Of course we should involve the House fully in a decision as important as the renewal of our nuclear deterrent and in practical terms it is inevitable that there will therefore be a chance for the House to express its view on this important matter in a vote."