Secret nuclear sell-off storm

[bananas]

Source: The Independent (UK)

Secret nuclear sell-off storm

Aldermaston bomb factory is sold to American company in bid to boost Treasury coffers provoking fury as Parliament is bypassed

By Ben Russell, Home affairs correspondent
Saturday, 20 December 2008


Britain no longer has any stake in the production of its nuclear warheads after the Government secretly sold off its shares in the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston.

Ministers agreed to sell the remaining one-third ownership to a Californian engineering company. The announcement, which means that Americans will now produce and maintain Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, was slipped out on the eve of the parliamentary Christmas holiday. Officials refused to say how much the deal raised.

Opposition MPs last night expressed concern that the stake may have been sold off below market value to raise much-needed money for the Treasury. They accused the Government of trying to conceal the sale of the stake in AWE Management Limited by failing to make an announcement in Parliament.

There was also anger that Britain would no longer directly control the site where Britain's nuclear warheads are produced and maintained.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-nu...

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The California company is Jacobs Engineering Group.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Selling off the family silver.

They are also in the process of selling off forests/woodlands and waterways amongst other things.

[Hydra]

2. Heh

Watch for US blackmail in the future. "You want warheads? You have to do this for us first..."