Greenpeace today welcomed the announcement by Nick Clegg that the Liberal Democrats would review the decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system.
And they also urged the government to delay the ‘initial gate' process for the proposed successor submarine - which commits up to an estimated £2.1bn to the start of design work (1).
The Ministry of Defence currently plans to make the decision about whether to proceed with initial gate this September while Parliament is in recess.
Greenpeace disarmament campaigner Louise Edge said: "Given the state of the economy, committing taxpayers to the astronomical costs of replacing Trident without so much as a parliamentary debate is deeply irresponsible.
"The time is right to re-examine the need for a cold war white elephant before we sign the cheque."
Pressure is growing for a delay. An early day motion calling for the initial gate decision to be delayed until Parliament is in session has already been signed by over 155 MPs, including 80 Labour members (2). The cross party House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee this week urged the Government to allow MPs a debate on the renewal of the ageing deterrent system when the project reaches initial gate stage.
Greeenpeace believes that the government should take a lead in restarting international disarmament by:
- taking Trident submarines off patrol and removing the warheads to an internationally monitored storage site in the United Kingdom;
- cancelling plans to build a new nuclear weapon and halting associated developments at AWE Aldermaston of new laser facilities and super-computers;
- working closely with other key states to strengthen existing disarmament treaties and to restart global multi-lateral disarmament negotiations.
ENDS
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255
Notes:
(1) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmdfence/986/986.pdf "Memorandum from Michael Codner, House of Commons Defence Committee hearing on The Future of the UK's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent: The Strategic Context, The Stationary Office, London, June 2006, p. Ev 72. 5. In this memo Michael Codner states "the major procurement investment decision would be made at Main Gate. This is likely to be at least 85 per cent of the total procurement cost. The bulk of the remaining likely maximum of 15 per cent of expenditure will be committed at Initial Gate". The government estimates submarine procurement costs are £11-14 billion
(2) EDM 660. Found at http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=37711&SESSION=899
