MPs Slam U.K. Plan for Air-Based Nuclear Arsenal

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under fire from legislators for considering a plan to replace the country’s aging Trident submarine-launched nuclear weapons with less costly air-launched cruise missiles, the Independent reported today (see GSN, Oct. 20).

Members of Blair’s own Labour party warned that deploying tactical nuclear-armed Tomahawk cruise missiles would make first use of such armaments more likely.

“Frankly, this is a neocon idea for using tactical nuclear weapons rather than the massive Trident system. It would simply not address our concerns,” said MP Michael Meacher (Colin Brown, Independent, Nov. 1).

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