Part of the case the government made for replacing Trident was the claim that it would provide well-paid, secure jobs. But we see yet again today that this was false.
700 AWE workers at Aldermaston and Burghfield will strike for 12 days in June and July because promises on pensions have been broken. The production of Trident warheads, and the convoys that carry them to Scotland, has been disrupted.
Yesterday, the national chairman of the Defence Police Federation said that Trident was at risk because of cuts to the police force responsible for protecting the Trident nuclear base and other defence sites.
At a cost of £205 billion we might expect that Trident jobs would be secure and well-paid. We might also expect that investment in the security of Trident would be a top priority. But these developments reflect the deceptive approach the government takes in pushing forward its plans to replace Trident.