LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron reopened a rift in his coalition government over the future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent yesterday, saying potential threats from countries such as Iran and North Korea meant it could not be scaled back.
Cameron’s comments put him at odds with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners who want to find a cheaper alternative to Britain’s multi-billion pound submarine-based Trident nuclear missile system to try to save money at a time when the nation’s finances are mired in debt.
Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, the senior member of the two-party coalition, said he had not seen any evidence there were cheaper ways of providing a credible alternative to the “ultimate weapon of defence”, saying the nuclear threat had grown since the end of the Cold War.
“Iran continues to defy the will of the international community in its attempts to develop its nuclear capabilities, while the highly unpredictable and aggressive regime in North Korea recently conducted its third nuclear test,” Cameron wrote in The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Cameron’s intervention coincided with a visit he made to Scotland, where the submarines are based, to welcome the crew of one vessel back from a patrol. He used the trip to explain why he thought Scots should vote to stay part of Britain in an independence referendum next year, but the Scottish National Party accused him of scare-mongering after he said Scottish defence jobs were more secure while Scotland was part of Britain.
The SNP has said it does not want nuclear weapons in an independent Scotland. A Trident renewal decision will not be taken until after the next 2015 general election, but the fact that Britain’s four Vanguard class nuclear submarines reach the end of their service lives in the 2020s means it cannot be put off for long.
Reuters
