In defence of nuclear arsenal

Published on Monday 27 April 2009 22:52

BRITAIN must not abandon its independent nuclear deterrent in the face of the current financial and economic crisis, Defence Secretary John Hutton, pictured, warned yesterday.

Ministers have faced calls to scrap the 20 billion update of the Trident nuclear deterrent after Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed the dire state of the public finances in the Budget.

But in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, Mr Hutton, the MP for Barrow where nuclear submarines are built, said the deterrent was likely to be "vital" to national security for decades, and it would be "reckless" to get rid of it now. "The tough economic climate and the threat from international terrorism is leading some to say that Britain can no longer afford, or need, the protection provided by the nuclear deterrent that my generation enjoyed. That view is fundamentally misconceived," he said.

"If history has taught us anything, it is that economic turbulence is often followed by other changes: new balances of power; new tensions; new risks and threats – ones that can quickly lead to instability and the potential for state-based conflict.

"It is a bold person who believes the UK will face a threat to its territorial integrity from another state in the next 50 years. But it's a reckless one who rules it out. And I am not prepared to be reckless with our nation's security."

As expected, Mr Hutton signalled a strengthening of the special forces – the SAS and SBS – as part of a "rebalancing" of the armed forces to deal with sort of threat they were facing from al-Qaeda and the Taleban in Afghanistan. "We need to decide the best balance for our armed forces over the next decade.

This could include greater investment in battle-winning capabilities, like our special forces, which can help to disrupt networks of terror that threaten our security.