Trident renewal is not the answer (Paul Harrod)

Trident renewal is not the answer

March 31, 2010 8:09 PM

The UK is in a financial crisis - and deep spending cuts are inevitable.

We have already seen their impact in Bristol, with large cuts to further education funding which will lead to the closure of the City of Bristol College's centre in Lawrence Weston and dozens of staff redundancies.

So I find it extraordinary that the Government is budgeting to spend up to £97bn on new nuclear weapons.

The Liberal Democrats have made clear where we would make spending cuts in order to reduce the deficit.

In addition to scrapping ID cards, and phasing our child tax credits for higher earners, we would not renew the Trident nuclear missile system.

Britain should adopt a cheaper, more minimal system, should it prove necessary to maintain a nuclear deterrent as a result of the Strategic Defence Review. I am personally not convinced that it will prove necessary.

Scrapping Trident would not only ensure that frontline public services are spared more stringent spending cuts, but would send a strong message to the rest of the world that we are committed to a nuclear free future, and would follow the approach the Presidents of the USA and Russia have started to take in reducing their own nuclear arsenals.