£1bn contract to replace Trident submarine cores

Chief Scottish Political Correspondent

Monday 18 June 2012

THE Defence Secretary will today announce a £1 billion contract that will pave the way for any decision in future years to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent.

deterrent: Defence Secretary Philip Hammond insists a final decision on replacing Trident has yet to be made.

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ROBBIE DINWOODIE CHIEF SCOTTISH POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

The move, ahead of a decision in 2016 on full replacement, will cause fresh friction within the Coalition and was condemned as "an obscenity" by the SNP, which wants to rid the Clyde of nuclear weapons.

Philip Hammond insisted the contract for two new submarine reactor cores, and an 11-year refit of the Rolls-Royce plant in Derby that will carry out the work, was necessary because of the long lead-in times of such contracts but insisted it did not mean a final decision had been taken on replacing Trident.He said: "We have already done a review of options and value-for-money of the Trident programme, and that concluded that replacing the Vanguard submarines and continuing with Trident was the best-value solution to maintaining a nuclear deterrent."But the Liberal Democrats wanted to have another look at some emerging technologies and Nick Harvey, the Armed Forces Minister, is leading a review to look at whether there are any."Tory backbenchers and the party's grassroots relish the symbolism of full replacement, seeing it as a commitment to maintaining Britain's place at the top table of nations, but the Liberal Democrats are keen to find a middle ground by maintaining some form of deterrent, but not at the vast cost of replacing the four Vanguard submarines that carry the missiles.The SNP favours outright abolition. Bruce Crawford, Secretary for Scottish Government Strategy, insisted: "It's estimated that the costs for the new Trident weapon system could be anything up to £25bn and, over the lifetime, £100bn."What is quite clear from Scotland is that the people of Scotland are opposed to the new nuclear weapons system on the Clyde. I think it's an obscenity that we're going to be pressing ahead at this time with this particular system."SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson added: "Church leaders, the STUC, the Scottish Government and Scotland's Parliament are all against weapons of mass destruction being in our waters."Despite this, the UK Government is prepared to spend £1bn of taxpayers' money on a needless programme and then expect the people of Scotland to accept weapons of mass destruction being dumped here."What Scotland needs is a government close to home making decisions based on what the people of Scotland actually want. Only an independent Scotland can deliver this."Both Mr Crawford and Mr Robertson welcomed a report by the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament outlining the mechanics and detailed timetable for how Trident missiles could be disabled and then removed.The report's author, John Ainslie, said: "Scottish CND welcomes the Scottish Government's support for our timescale for disarming Trident. "If Scotland was independent, we could insist that Trident was de-activated within seven days and that all nuclear weapons were removed from Scotland within two years."Mr Crawford said: "We are firmly committed to the earliest possible withdrawal of Trident from Scotland, to the pursuit of a world which is free from nuclear weapons and to the development and diversification of Coulport as a vibrant and sustainable conventional naval base in an independent Scotland."The suggested timetable is a welcome indication of how quickly Trident could be removed once Scotland has the powers to decide its own defence and security policy."

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£1bn contract to replace Trident submarine cores

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