Ditch Trident Save Cash

The UK is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, and its having some strange side effects. We are seeing a further shift in attitudes regarding the estimated £76 billion being spent on Trident. Even Tories such as David Davis and James Arbuthnot are suggesting a policy rethink on the issue.

If Gordon Brown wants to live up to his disarmament rhetoric, then it's time to reopen the debate.


CND Chair Kate Hudson "David Davis has written, in the Financial Times, that it is time for the Tories to look at their own 'sacred cows'. Davis questioned the justification for the 'wholesale upgrade' of a system designed to retaliate after a full-scale Soviet attack when today's likeliest adversary would be a 'much smaller, less sophisticated state. Should not the costs reflect this?'

Brown’s key weakness is that he talks the disarmament talk, but won’t deal with Trident. Sooner or later he will have to realise this is a contradictory position. When the majority of the British people – including Tory politicians and senior military figures - have come to the view that Trident should be reconsidered – or even axed – then Gordon Brown should not be holding back."

David Cameron is considering abandoning the British Trident missile force, or going for a less expensive option, we learned last week. He has also indicated that he will undertake "a major strategic defence review once in office".Interviewed on Newsnight, the former armed forces minister Nicholas Soames suggested that the economic situation was not the whole reason. Part of the problem, he explained, was that "we are very much trapped in our nuclear doctrine in a cold war mentality".

Enen the Daily Mail says Scrap Trident 'And why not scrap the £6billion ID cards project, which will do nothing to help tackle terrorism or immigration, and – like nearly every other government IT project – almost certainly won’t work anyway?'

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