Published at 11:31, Thursday, 24 September 2009

At first glance, it looks like a noble act of integrity, leadership and statesmanship.

Trident-class nuclear submarine

To set an example and encourage others to make the world a safer and happier place, Britain will cut its Trident nuclear deterrent by a quarter.

Gordon Brown was expected to make the offer at a United Nations meeting on nuclear proliferation today in a bid to persuade other world leaders to sign up to a new treaty.

It follows the announcement of far-reaching plans by US President Barack Obama to reduce international nuclear stockpiles.

Of course, I could just be too cynical and such an announcement by Mr Brown could well have the Iranians, North Koreans and the superpowers of Russia, China and the US all scurrying to dismantle their nuclear capabilities.

Instead of spending on weapons of mass destruction, they will be looking at the money they can save and use to help solve the global warming crisis.

Or it might not.

We ceased to be a world power when our coffers were emptied by World War One.

Since then, the globe’s managers have been American Russian and Chinese, with varying levels of success.

We have 192 warheads, Israel 200 (no chance of them giving up a water pistol, let alone a warhead), France 300, China 400, the US 9,500 and Russia 13,000.

Of course, these figures are the ones admitted by these nations.

The actual figures could be much different in reality.

Perhaps Mr Brown should credit us and the UN with a little more sense and not try to dress this offer up as some sort of world-leading earth-saving bid.

I can’t help feeling that it is just a piece of housekeeping polished up to look like international statesmanship.

The cost of renewing Trident is put at between £20bn and £25bn and cutting it by a quarter would save a sizeable amount of money.

The Government needs to make the decision next year so the new system is in place by the early 2020s.

Britain is in very deep, icy cold and very choppy financial waters, in fact, we’ve got Rockall, if I can mix metaphors with shipping forecasts.

So the entire Government staff are looking at ways of saving cash, while shoving their hands down the back of ministerial chairs in search of any loose change.

Cutting back on Trident saves a hefty chunk.

And we will have a nuclear sub to sell on to some ‘friendly’ nation!

As Barrow serves the fleet of four, any changes could have a knock-on effect in Cumbria.

But I’m not sure if it will be massive – fewer subs means each one they have will be in operation for longer and will need more servicing, repairs and maintenance.

So how much will it actually save and does anyone else really care?

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk