§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the cost of cancelling(a) the entire Trident submarine programme,(b) the fourth Trident and(c) the building projects at Coulport and Faslane, under the liquidated damages clauses in the contracts.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleThe costs of cancellation of the Trident programme as a whole, or of any element within it, would depend on the timing of the cancellation and would reflect the contractors' properly incurred liabilities at the time of termination. These costs should be less than the total amount committed, which currently stands at about £6 billion.