MPs to vote on Trident replacement this month

[Denzil_DC]

MPs will vote on 18 July whether to renew the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system, PM David Cameron has said.

Mr Cameron, who is standing down in September, said the issue should not be left to his successor.

Meanwhile, an internal review of Labour's defence policy will keep open the possibility of retaining Trident, BBC Newsnight understands.

The review is considering the party's stance on Trident, which leader Jeremy Corbyn wants to scrap.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36754911

The final para of this breaking news story says that Labour's review will likely set five "tests" for the deployment.

It remains to be seen whether those tests - or the debate as a whole - will consider:

* the no doubt even further skyrocketing cost of the programme due to the historically low sterling exchange rate, and where in the stretched defence budget or national coffers that money will come from;

* where they expect the submarine and weapons handling facilities to be based, given the uncertainty over Scotland's future relationship to the rest of the UK, and what contingency plans they will make to take account of the possibility of Scottish independence.

[truebrit71]

1. Champagne dreams on a beer budget...

Scrap it and save the money. Naaah, too simple.

[Denzil_DC]

2. This "Yes Minister" clip has never seemed more relevant!

A slightly more detailed report here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/trident-david-cameron-confirms-date-for-vote-on-renewal-of-nuclear-weapons-system-a7128466.html

[Denzil_DC]

3. ... Along with this exchange from Series 3, Episode 2, "The Challenge":

Sir Humphrey: [talking about nuclear fallout shelters] Well, you have the weapons; you must have the shelters.
Hacker: I sometimes wonder why we need the weapons.
Sir Humphrey: Minister! You're not a unilateralist?
Hacker: I sometimes wonder, you know.
Sir Humphrey: Well, then, you must resign from the government!
Hacker: Ah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not that unilateralist! Anyway, the Americans will always protect us from the Russians, won't they?
Sir Humphrey: Russians? Who's talking about the Russians?
Hacker: Well, the independent deterrent.
Sir Humphrey: It's to protect us against the French!
Hacker: The French?! But that's astounding!
Sir Humphrey: Why?
Hacker: Well they're our allies, our partners.
Sir Humphrey: Well, they are now, but they've been our enemies for the most of the past 900 years. If they've got the bomb, we must have the bomb!
Hacker: If it's for the French, of course, that's different. Makes a lot of sense.
Sir Humphrey: Yes. Can't trust the Frogs.
Hacker: You can say that again!

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

[Ken Burch]

4. Time to scrap Trident. The Cold War is over, and the Cold War was the ONLY justification

for ever having the Bomb.

Time to create a foreign policy based on life, not death.