Wednesday's Commons vote on the renewal of the Trident nuclear missiles and submarines programme looks set for a backbench rebellion by over 60 Labour MPs. But, as has been so often the case in the past, particularly when passing anti-working class legislation, Blair will get his way thanks to the Tories' support, anyway.

As if it was not obvious that the £20bn price tag of this programme (excluding maintenance costs) will deprive public services of resources which they need desperately! Or that this stockpiling of nuclear weapons constitutes a permanent threat for all of us!

But if it were not for its potentially disastrous consequences, the whole affair would be little short of a farce. What, with Blair telling us how important it is that Britain should retain its "nuclear deterrent" - but a deterrent for whom? Isn't this claim ironical coming from a government that keeps warning us against the "threat of terrorism"? As far as we know, the American nuclear stockpiles did not prevent 9/11, or did we miss something? As to Iran or North Korea justifying this so-called deterrent, as Defence secretary Des Browne does, why on earth would these countries attack Britain? And how would they, when they lack anything like long-range missiles, let alone an inter-continental ones?

None of this has anything to do with the real reasons behind this programme, of course. The truth is, that for the past 50 years or so, the "nuclear deterrent" has been a golden goose for several generations of big shareholders. It has provided them with billions of pounds of military contracts, year in and year out.

First in the queue of potential beneficiaries of the Trident programme is BAE, Blair's very own protégé - the very same company that his government chose to protect against its own anti-corruption legislation, for fear that its shareholders might lose the fat dividends they get out of BAE's share of Saudi arms contracts.

In the Labour leadership's book, no effort should ever be spared to satisfy the profiteers' greed. This was the only reason for their involvement in the bloody invasion of Iraq - so that the City giants would be able to cut out their slice of the Iraqi cake once the dust of the war had settled. And it is the only reason for their obsessive determination that Britain should remain part of the "nuclear gang". If nothing else, this is a good enough reason for us, workers, to be against this programme.