Trident renewal will cost £18m per employee, report claims

RENEWING the UK's nuclear deterrent will mean the creation of zero new jobs and a bill of £18 million for every employee, according to a new report.

Replacing the Trident nuclear missile system will cost 205 billion pounds. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.

Conducted by independent think tank The Jimmy Reid Foundation, the report calculates that the cost of replacing Trident works out at approximately £18 million for every employee of its 12,000-strong workforce, and that the programme will create no new jobs.

Academics commissioned by the Jimmy Reid Foundation to compile the report say that the £205bn required to replace the nuclear weapons system could be much better spent elsewhere.

They argue that renewal offers little in terms of economic and defence benefits to the UK, and that Trident’s enormous cost puts added pressure on an already stretched military budget, absorbing vast amounts of expertise and funding from other sectors which need it more.

The report also claims that Trident will result in more job losses and closures of army bases across Scotland, and that the future of military shipbuilding on the Clyde looks bleak if the programme goes ahead.

It is hoped that the report will persuade the MSPs to implement a “Scottish Defence Diversification Agency” to divert jobs and skills away from the military, and focus instead on developing a more eco-friendly economy for Scotland.

The Foundation, which has delivered its Trident report to Holyrood today, have been campaigning to scrap Trident since their formation in 2011.