The Secretary of State for Defence, Gavin Williamson MP, has announced the latest round of spending on Trident replacement with £235 million awarded to Derby based Rolls Royce. The contract will include the maintenance of the engines on the submarines which will carry Britain’s nuclear weapons.
The cost of replacing the current Vanguard submarines with a new generation of Dreadnaught submarines is estimated to be £205 billion over the next 30 years. This comes in spite of a recent report from the National Audit Office, the government spending watchdog, which sounded the alarm over a £7 billion gap in Ministry of Defence spending plans. It branded the current spending plans “unaffordable”.
The decision to continue to press ahead with Trident replacement, at a time when more than 120 states have agreed a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations shows how out of touch with international opinion the UK is when it comes to nuclear weapons.
The current situation between Pakistan and India should be a powerful reminder to us all about the extreme danger these weapons pose to humanity and creation.
Please join us as we continue to work and pray for a world free of nuclear weapons.
