Trident trouble at the Treasury

Chancellor George Osborne announced that the cost for the replacement of the submarine nuclear weapons system would fall to the MoD, rather than the Treasury.

"All budgets have pressure," said Mr Osborne. "I don't think there's anything particularly unique about the Ministry of Defence. I have made it very clear that Trident renewal costs must be taken as part of the defence budget."

This led Defence Minister Liam Fox to claim that other elements of the MoD would suffer as a result.

He also attempted to ramp up fears of a "new nuclear arms race" citing the possibility of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey gaining nuclear capability.

He claimed that this necessitates the retention of Britain's nuclear deterrent.

But CND chairwoman Kate Hudson accused Mr Fox of resorting to scaremongering and said the fact that the MoD did not want to shoulder the cost meant it was not a priority.

"It is up to those who want to retain and upgrade Britain's nuclear weapons to justify why there should be swingeing cuts to the rest of the armed forces - and government spending in other areas - to pay for them," she said.

"It seems that the MoD wants Trident, but not badly enough to pay for it. They won't cut back anything else and want 'someone else' to fund it - but whichever budget it comes from, the reality is that we're all having to endure huge cuts elsewhere so that this white elephant can be retained.

"The vast spending on nuclear weapons is a millstone round the neck of British defence policy, distorting priorities in order to face a threat that simply doesn't exist."

Ms Hudson went on to state that "the MoD knows that the public won't accept spending billions a year on nuclear weapons - a system that senior military leaders describe as 'completely useless' and polls show a majority of the public oppose.

"If Trident really were essential to national security it would top the MoD spending priorities," she said.

"The fact they'd rather not pay for it at all suggests that even they understand that the £100bn cost of Trident and its replacement would be a complete waste of national resources."