Britain must disentangle its nuclear deterrent from American reliance, according to Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who argues the current system is dependent on an increasingly unreliable United States.
While the UK’s Trident nuclear missile system is operationally independent, allowing the government to deploy it if deemed necessary, Sir Ed will contend in a speech at the party’s spring conference that its reliance on US manufacture and maintenance undermines its true independence.
Sir Ed is set to call for a "genuinely, verifiably" independent nuclear deterrent to replace Trident, citing US President Donald Trump as an undependable ally.
Speaking at the Lib Dem spring conference in York, he will state: "Britain’s nuclear deterrent must be genuinely, verifiably ours – not dependent on Trump or whoever his successor may be. Trump has proven we can’t rely on America as a dependable ally."
His call to decouple from US support for Trident comes amid the ongoing American-Israeli war against Iran in the Middle East, which has sent shockwaves through global energy markets.
Donald Trump has openly criticised the UK’s decision not to engage in the conflict and previously threatened to halt trade with Spain after its government denied American access to its airbases for the war.
The US president has also clashed with traditional European allies over his ambition to annex Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
Sir Ed will urge the Prime Minister to take two distinct steps to sever the British nuclear deterrent’s ties with the US.
In the short term, he proposes the government develop its own maintenance programme for Trident. For the longer term, he advocates for a fully British-made alternative to be manufactured, replacing Trident once the existing weapons reach the end of their operational lives in the 2040s.
The Lib Dem leader will add: "As the UK now prepares to replace Trident in the 2040s, we should make the decision now to spend the billions required over the next two decades here in the UK, not in the US.
“Britain has the best scientists, the best engineers, the best builders in the world. So let’s get building our own, truly independent nuclear deterrent here in the UK. Made in Britain."
Sir Ed is also expected to draw inspiration from Britain’s past, noting the country built its own nuclear weapons in the 1950s, becoming the third nation to do so after the USA and the Soviet Union.
He will also highlight France, which maintains its own fully independent nuclear deterrent, as a contemporary example.
Trident has previously been estimated to account for approximately 6 per cent of the UK’s annual defence budget.
The Chatham House think tank has suggested that Britain will face a difficult choice in replacing the system, noting that pursuing a deterrent independently would be hugely costly, while co-operation with France would still entail reliance on an ally.
The UK maintains its nuclear deterrent by ensuring one of its four nuclear submarines is at sea at all times.
These Vanguard class vessels, based at Faslane on Scotland’s west coast, are currently being replaced by new Dreadnought class submarines under construction in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
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