Suggestions surfaced publicly today that the UK Ministry of Defence is considering a delay to the main gate for Trident replacement – the point at which a decision is taken to start actual construction of the submarines – until 2015/16, after the next election.
BASIC understands that these discussions have been ongoing throughout August, and that the decision has been made on the basis of accountability and the political context.
The thinking goes something like this.
There was a rare and powerful burst of euphoria at the UN on the final day of the NPT Review Conference, when the representatives of about 180 states agreed on a final document without a vote.
Yesterday’s announcement that the government would stick to a limit of 225 nuclear warheads has been rightly welcomed by BASIC (the British American Security Information Council) as a next step in transparency and disarmament.
Mary Riddell references BASIC in her commentary. Read more:
The Royal United Services Institute suggested cut of £11bn by keeping the Trident submarines in harbour quoted BASIC's information.
Read more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/20/hague-shreds-european-union-cameron
Day 14: There is widespread dismay at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference where the latest draft on the treaty's disarmament pillar has excised all references to a timetable for the nuclear weapons states to disarm.
Day 13: Russia has rejected a proposal from Germany to include a call for the “irreversible reduction and elimination” of US and Russian tactical weapons in a draft action plan of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Treaty Conference.
The exchange took place during a closed-door session which was discussing the disarmament pillar of the NPT.
Day 12: Two dramatic interventions could influence the outcome of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference.
One was the presentation of the Non-Aligned Movement's suggested wholesale amendments to the committee focusing on the non-proliferation pillar of the NPT.
Day 10: The scene has been set for the negotiations at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference following the release of the draft documents from the main committees which summarise discussions of the past two weeks and lay down an action plan for the future.
The following areas are some of those which will be hotly debated in the final two weeks of the Review Conference: