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The new nuclear deterrence and disarmament crisis

In Part One, we looked at the violation of the fundamental principles of Mutually Assured Destruction. In Part Two, we discuss a new world role for Britain.

By Robert Green
The new nuclear deterrence and disarmament crisis
Obama and Hollande at a P5 + 1 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, 2016, to keep ISIS and others from obtaining nuclear material and other weapons of mass destruction. | Pool/PA. All rights reserved.
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Britain is the best-placed nuclear weapon state to lead the world out of the new nuclear deterrence and disarmament crisis.

The UK nuclear arsenal is the smallest of the P5, deployed in only one system, at several days’ notice to fire; a £70 billion Defence Budget deficit, driven by planned Trident renewal related to dependence on the US, would grow with Brexit; and the £50 billion opportunity cost of Trident renewal could be redirected to providing a more balanced, useful Royal Navy contribution to graduated conventional deterrence.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has experienced no loss of public support on pledging that, if he became Prime Minister, he would refuse to authorise nuclear weapon use, and would sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

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