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U.K. Expected to Remain a Nuclear Power
The United Kingdom would continue to possess nuclear weapons if Finance Minister Gordon Brown becomes prime minister, he said yesterday (see GSN, March 13). Brown supports spending billions of dollars on a replacement for the Trident missile, Agence France-Presse reported. “In an insecure world we must and will always have the strength to take all necessary long-term decisions for stability and security,” Brown, who is likely to replace Prime Minister Tony Blair, said in a speech in London. The United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent is made up of four Royal Navy submarines that carry U.S.-made Trident missiles. The service life of the missiles is due to end in the 2020s. Reinstating the deterrent is expected to cost between $18 and $46 billion, according to AFP. Blair yesterday pledged to Parliament to conduct the “fullest possible debate” on the missiles, but refused to promise a decisive vote. “We have a great uncertainty in the world,” lawmaker Timothy Garden said on BBC television. “It may be that the world will get safer and we won’t need a nuclear weapons system. It may be that the world will get more dangerous, and we will.” A new generation of British nuclear weapons would “only contribute to global tensions and lead other countries to conclude that they also need to develop nuclear weapons,” said Kate Hudson, chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, June 21).
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