contribution by Kate Hudson

Caroline Lucas has exposed a further £2bn of government spending on a new nuclear weapons programme to replace the current Trident system. This brings the total spending so far to £6bn on a system which has not yet even been authorised..

On the day when George Osborne is defending his failing austerity programme and trade unionists are preparing to defend their pensions, it is hard to see how such unauthorised profligacy can continue.

In spite of the fact that the parliamentary decision is not due until 2016, almost £4 billion has already been spent or earmarked for the system prior to the decision. Now the answer to Caroline Lucas’s question reveals a further £2bn of spending on the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston.

This will go on making enriched uranium components, high explosives and assembling and dismantling warheads.

Meanwhile, clearly taking the 2016 decision point at face value, Lib Dem Defence Minister Nick Harvey has been leading an official review into alternatives to Trident replacement.

But last week Defence Minister Philip Hammond admitted that there were “no plans” to publish any aspect of Nick Harvey’s ‘Trident Alternatives Review’.

MPs – and even Lib Dem Defence Ministers! – are under the impression that a decision on replacing Britain’s nuclear weapons is still pending. But this is clearly not the Tory view – as borne out by the heavily redacted government ‘Trident Value For Money Review’, recently in the public domain.

The Conservative strategy on Trident is clear: close down debate and plough ahead.. But this is not an unproblematic strategy. Yes, there is widespread popular opposition to nuclear weapons spending, as might be expected in a period of austerity.

But there are also concerns expressed about the impact of Trident on conventional defence spending, now that Trident comes out of the MoD budget. What’s more, the Government’s own Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), from which Trident was controversially excluded, downgraded the threat of state on state nuclear attack.

Whether a nuclear ‘business as usual approach’ can be sustained by the government in today’s changing circumstances, is an open question.

—
Kate Hudson is General Secretary of CND

Reader comments

1. Luke Massey

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

2. NIS

   Kate Hudson of @CNDUK on how decisions on #Trident nuclear weapons are being stitched up by the MoD: http://t.co/1Iv35yGx

3. Nick H.

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD http://t.co/OivKwOGk

4. Simon Blanchard

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

5. Jeni Acelas

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

6. Friendly lawyer

   http://t.co/76EUGdID << a good use of resources?

7. Mike Morgan-Giles

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

8. Steve Trow

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

9. Lisa pring

   How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

10. My truth my lies

    How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD – blog for @libcon http://t.co/jrUgoRVq #CutTrident

11. AdamFlude &Friends

    How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD http://t.co/1tuc1aw9

12. sunny hundal

    @a_c_mcgregor @RezinaChowdhury @suey2y @markpack you've lost argument on Triedent (I'm opposed) – LDs said nothing http://t.co/6gikaBNb here

13. Rezina

    RT @sunny_hundal: @a_c_mcgregor @suey2y @markpack you've lost argument on Triedent (I'm opposed)- LDs said nothing http://t.co/sXUqXo2H here

14. albymous

    RT @libcon: How the decision on Trident is being stitched up by the MoD http://t.co/b998PhTw