Trident (Hansard, 9 January 1996)

§ 5. Mr. Bennett
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the deployment of Trident. [6342]

§ Mr. Arbuthnot
The Trident system has been in operational service since December 1994. The phased replacement of Polaris by the Trident system is proceeding to schedule.

§ Mr. Bennett
Will the Minister confirm that when Victorious went on patrol it had only 12 missiles on board, compared with the 16 that Vanguard is carrying? Is that a change of policy? Does it mean that we are going 6 to buy fewer missiles from the United States; and will each missile be carrying more warheads than the Polaris missiles carried, thereby putting us in breach of the non-proliferation treaty? Or will we conform to that treaty?

§ Mr. Arbuthnot
We shall certainly conform to the non-proliferation treaty. The hon. Gentleman was one of 42 Opposition Members who last October signed a motion calling for Trident to be scrapped. He comes from the wing of the Labour party that represents the real Labour party, and that means we cannot trust Labour on defence.

§ Mr. Robathan
Does my hon. Friend accept that the history of nuclear weapons makes many hon. Members uncomfortable—particularly the deployment of cruise missiles in the past decade, which was opposed by many hon. Members? The non-stop opposition to Trident by some Liberal and Labour Members suggests that they are more concerned with their own peculiar principles than with the good defence of our nation, which is supported by the majority of its people.

§ Mr. Arbuthnot
Yes. Nuclear deterrence has worked to prevent war in Europe for the past 50 years. We should remember that our nuclear deterrent has been a very good buy. Had Labour been in power in the past 16 years, we would not have any of those questions because we would not have a nuclear deterrent.

§ Mr. Salmond
Will the Minister confirm that his Department contacted Rosyth dockyard with a view to estimating the price of a contract to refit the Trident missile system? What does that tell us about the status of the Devonport contract? Does it not suggest that it was always unsoundly based and that the decision to send it there was purely political rather than economic?

§ Mr. Arbuthnot
No. My Department has not contacted Rosyth dockyard, which put in a unsolicited bid. The decision in 1993 to put nuclear refitting into Devonport was taken when we needed to have the issue settled. We do not intend to reopen the issue and move the contract to Rosyth.

§ Mr. John Marshall
Does my hon. Friend agree that the results of the recent Russian election and the uncertainty that has been created underline the need for the west to maintain its nuclear shield? Do those election results not show that the meandering policies of the Leader of the Opposition on defence demonstrate that only one party can be guaranteed to defend the country?

§ Mr. Arbuthnot
Yes. The right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair) used to be a member of the parliamentary Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Defence is just one of many issues on which he and the Labour party have said time and again, "We were wrong about that. Please forgive us." But the electorate will not forgive them.

§ Ms Rachel Squire
Does the Minister agree that the Government are entirely responsible for the two and a half years of delay and indecision over the refitting of Trident and the future ownership of the two dockyards? Will he tell the House today when he intends to make an announcement about the future ownership of those dockyards and provide firm guarantees on work load, 7 safety and conditions of employment at both Rosyth and Devonport?

§ Mr. Arbuthnot
It is not as a result of Government indecision that the matter has been delayed for so long. It is an exceptionally important and complicated matter to tie up all the issues involved in nuclear refitting. The hon. Lady has been assiduous and vigorous in fighting the corner for Rosyth, but nevertheless the Government have been absolutely right to pursue negotiations with the various companies involved. We have done so vigorously, and we intend to pursue those negotiations to a conclusion.