§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what cost/benefit analysis he has made of the Trident missile programme; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. HamiltonThe Government carefully examined a range of possible options when they considered a successor to Polaris to meet the United Kingdom's continuing requirement for a minimum strategic nuclear deterrent. Its analyses and conclusions were set out in the Defence open Government documents 80/23, 82/1 and 87/01, copies of which are in the Library of the House. As reported by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 21 January 1993 at column419, the United Kingdom Trident programme continues on time and within budget to enter service in the mid-1990s.