News: Labour, Tories and Trident

The decision to replace Trident is premature. Why are Blair and Brown rushing into a decision which need not be made, and why on earth is Cameron supporting them?

For Tony Blair it’s obviously legacy time – he wants to push this through before he goes. It’s pretty irrational that in the same week he promotes a climate change bill to save the planet, and a replacement for trident which could destroy it. Gordon Brown obviously supports Blair in this, but wants the decision made before he comes in.

I am the child of airforce parents and I grew up with daily reminders of the reality of the cold war. We no longer live in that world thank goodness, and whilst we may have needed a nuclear deterrent in the past, it’s not clear who we might deter with them in the future.

And with 20 years or more of life left in Trident, all military experts agree that there is no need to make a decision until after the non proliferation talks in 2010. Having pre-empted those talks, how can we enter them with any credibility?

Meanwhile, British soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan and Iraq because there is no money to equip them with body armour and armoured vehicles.

Ros Scott
21 March 2007