Trident Nuclear Programme

Lord Brougham and Vaux Excerpts

Monday 7th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goldie (Con) [V]]

As I have previously indicated to the noble Lord, I cannot pre-empt what the integrated review will say. However, a practice has clearly arisen whereby the MoD is considered responsible for the provision and management of the nuclear deterrent and the Treasury reflects that with funding. That is why the financial package for Dreadnought comprises an identified budget of £31 billion and a contingency fund of £10 billion. The other elements of the deterrent will be determined in due course by the MoD in the allocation of the budget settlement.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Brougham and Vaux) (Con)]

The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, is not here, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Singh of Wimbledon.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]]

My Lords, nuclear deterrence may have made some sense during the Cold War of the 1950s. Today, there is no direct threat of invasion to our shores. In an inverted meaning of “defence”, we already have a military presence at 145 sites in 42 countries, a number second only to the United States. Does the Minister agree that this strutting of military might across the globe has nothing to do with defence?

[Baroness Goldie (Con) [V]]

With respect to the noble Lord, I completely disagree. I feel that the measure and calibre of the effectiveness of a deterrent has been reflected over the years. I said once before that the perhaps paradoxical character of a deterrent is that its lack of use confirms its efficacy of purpose. The threats we face are becoming ever more complex and diverse and are increasing in scale. We have the deterrent to deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life which cannot be deterred by other means. That is why the Government are absolutely clear that we need the nuclear deterrent for the foreseeable future.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Brougham and Vaux) (Con)]

My Lords, all the supplementary questions have been asked.