'We can't rely on Trump': Ed Davey calls on Britain to build own nuclear missiles to end dependence on US
The Liberal Democrat leader will argue in a speech at the party’s spring conference that the American manufacture of the missiles, and the reliance on US maintenance, means the deterrent is not truly independent.
Britain must de-tangle its nuclear deterrent from America, so it is no longer dependent on an increasingly unreliable US to maintain the weapons, Sir Ed Davey will say.
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Britain’s Trident nuclear missile system is operationally independent, meaning the Government could use the weapon should it believe it necessary.
But the Liberal Democrat leader will argue in a speech at the party’s spring conference that the American manufacture of the missiles, and the reliance on US maintenance, means the deterrent is not truly independent.
Sir Ed will call for a “genuinely, verifiably” independent nuclear deterrent to replace Trident, as US President Donald
Trump is no longer a dependable ally.In his speech at the Lib Dem spring conference in York, Sir Ed will say: “Britain’s nuclear deterrent must be genuinely, verifiably ours – not dependent on Trump or whoever his successor may be.
“Trump has proven we can’t rely on America as a dependable ally.”
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Sir Ed’s call to decouple from US support for Trident comes amid the ongoing American-Israeli war against Iran in the Middle East, which has caused shock waves in energy markets across the world.
Mr Trump has been openly critical of the UK’s decision not to get involved in the war, and threatened to halt all trade with US ally Spain after its government denied American access its airbases for use in the war.
The US president has also clashed with the nation’s traditional allies in Europe over his desire to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Sir Ed will call on the Prime Minister to take two distinct steps to decouple the British nuclear deterrent from the US.In the short-term, the Government must develop its own maintenance programme for Trident.
In the longer term, a fully British-made alternative should be manufactured to replace Trident once the weapons reach the end of their lives in the 2040s, he will say.
The Lib Dem leader will add: “As the UK now prepares to replace Trident in the 2040s, we should make the decision now to spend the billions required over the next two decades here in the UK, not in the US.
“Britain has the best scientists, the best engineers, the best builders in the world. So let’s get building our own, truly independent nuclear deterrent here in the UK. Made in Britain.”
Sir Ed is also expected to point to Britain’s past for inspiration: The country built its own nuclear weapons in the 1950s, becoming the third country to do so after the USA and the Soviet Union.
He will also say Britain can look to its neighbour France, which maintains its own fully-independent nuclear deterrent.
Trident has previously been estimated to cost some 6% of the UK’s annual defence budget.The Chatham House think tank has suggested Britain will face a difficult choice in replacing Trident.
Going alone on the deterrent would be hugely costly, while co-operation with France would also result in reliance on an ally, the think tank said.
The UK maintains its nuclear deterrent by keeping one of its four nuclear submarines at sea at all times. The Vanguard class vessels are based at Faslane, on Scotland’s west coast. They are being replaced by new Dreadnought class submarines being built at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.