Prime Minister
David Cameron's spokesman would not confirm or deny the report on a sensitive
issue which has also caused arguments between the Treasury and the Ministry of
Defense over who should foot the bill.
"The
position is that we will maintain the nuclear deterrent. Clearly, as part of
that value for money review, I would expect us to be looking at the profile of
expenditure," Cameron's spokesman told reporters.
Asked what he
meant by "profile of expenditure", the spokesman said: "It means
when you spend money".
The government
is conducting a strategic defense review as well as a broader review of all
government spending to find savings of tens of billions of pounds as it strives
to slash a budget deficit running at 11 percent of national income.
The BBC
reported that ministers were considering postponing the final decision on
replacing the four submarines that carry the Trident weapons system from 2014
until after the next parliamentary election, which is scheduled for 2015.
That would mean
putting back spending of at least 20 billion pounds ($31.2 billion), easing
pressure from the Treasury on the Ministry of Defense to find massive savings
in other programs.
It would also
please the Liberal Democrats, junior partners in the government, who campaigned
against replacing Trident until they unexpectedly formed a coalition in May
with the Conservatives, who strongly favor maintaining the program.
The coalition
agreement between the two parties states that Britain would maintain its
nuclear deterrent but the renewal of Trident would be scrutinized to ensure
value for money. Liberal Democrats would continue to argue for alternatives.
Speculation has
mounted that Trident might be downgraded to make it cheaper, for example by
replacing only three of the four submarines -- which would end the policy of
having at least one submarine at sea all the time.
Jock Stirrup,
outgoing head of the armed forces, expressed alarm on Thursday at such a
proposal.
"I would be worried about any proposition that was untenable in the
context of maintaining the minimum credible nuclear deterrent, which, to me, is
continuous at-sea deterrence by a submarine," he told a parliamentary
committee.
