MPs will today decide on whether to replace Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system
But we must have an honest debate. Politicians, like defence secretary Michael Fallon, say Trident replacement will cost £31 billion. But this is the cost of replacing Trident submarines, just one part of the total cost of the new system.
In addition to the submarines there is a £10 billion contingency fund. Then there’s the missile extension programme (£350 million), replacement warheads (£4 billion), infrastructure capital costs (£4 billion), in service costs (£142 billion), conventional military forces directly assigned to support Trident (£1 billion), and decommissioning (£13 billion).
It is completely dishonest for the government to hold debate about Trident without telling the public the full cost.