§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the cost savings that could be made over the next 25 years from the immediate cancellation of the Trident nuclear programme. [39245]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe Government remain committed to the Trident programme. It follows that no detailed assessment has been made of the financial consequences of its cancellation. At this stage of procurement, the chief saving that would accrue from cancellation would be the operating costs, currently estimated to be some £6 billion over the life of the programme.
Trident remains the most effective means of providing a credible deterrent into the next century. No other use of the resources to be spent on Trident, such as an increase in our conventional forces, could contribute so significantly to deterrence.