nuclear-news

Should UK scrap its probably useless Trident nuclear missiles?

UK’s nuclear weapons in the frame, Guardian UK Richard Norton Taylor and Nick Hopkins, 6 Mar 12,  LibDems question future of Trident Debate building up in coalition over deterrent Pressure on defence budget remains There are signs, like green shoots heralding spring, that the last taboo of British politics is breaking.

Liberal Democrats are finally gearing themselves up seriously to question the Conservative attachment to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system and commitment to replace it with a “like for like” fleet of ballistic missile submarines.

Trident – the ultimate strategic weapon – was excluded from the coalition government’s “strategic defence and security review” last autumn.
And judging from the “shadow defence review” consultation paper, just launched, there is no difference at all between Labour and Conservatives on the matter…..

Now, the thinktank CentreForum – independent but linked to the LibDems – says the plans to build a new Trident system are “nonsensical” and should be scrapped. As my colleague, Nick Hopkins, notes, the 60-page study, Dropping the Bomb: A Post-Trident Future, is believed to reflect the views of many senior Lib Dems who are trying to force a debate on whether the UK still needs a nuclear deterrent.

The report says the government is sleepwalking into taking a costly and illogical decision at a time the army, navy, and air force are being squeezed by budget cuts. The cost of a new fleet of Trident submarines alone is officially estimated at £25bn. Interestingly, the report’s author, Toby Fenwick, is a former Treasury official. BAE Systems, manufacturer of the Trident subs, is listed on CentreForum’s website, as one of the thinktank’s “corporate partners”.

In his memoirs, A Journey, Tony Blair described Trident’s expense as “huge” and its military use as a weapon “non-existent”…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/defence-and-security-blog/2012/mar/06/uk-nuclear-trident?newsfeed=true

March 7, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war