Trident - who'd buy it?

GOVERNMENT'S TRIDENT FIGURES DON'T ADD UP - TIME FOR GREENPEACE TO CALL ON THE UN

Greenpeace has costed Trident2 at £97bn - who believes it? Well, for starters, currently 78% of the TridentVote poll - still open at http://bit.ly/g4W48. But the press is following Defence Secretary Liam Fox's figure of £20bn - the old MoD figure used by the last Labour government and believed by just 6% in this poll.

What does it all mean? Well, I'm struggling here - after all, the Trident value for money exercise was conducted in secret and Fox explicitly rejected MPs' demands for engagement with or submissions from independent organisations. But it could mean that his study was based on, and is sticking to, £20bn total cost for the Trident2 project and that the Treasury is holding the MoD to finding this from their budget allocation rather than allocating new funding.

If this is correct and the true cost is as Greenpeace has calculated, then apparently there is a hole of £77bn. The MoD may be using some smokescreen: the budget cycle vs. the longterm costs - we won't know as government refuses to report to Parliament on the VFM study but instead are pushing it into the strategic defence review despite voting down a Queen's Speech amendment to do just that. Good luck to the government too on seeking to make the MoD stop their over-spending: they're always over-budget (the superbly named Astute nuke sub was £1bn over-budget). Little wonder that few trust them to do the shopping for anything, let alone handle the leasing of more Trident nukes.

Although perversely the Foreign Secretary claims the coalition government has a new policy of being open and transparent on nukes - whilst refusing to allow independent verification of the UK nuke warhead stockpile - surely the plausible conclusion for all this government duplicity and secrecy is that the Trident figures don't add up and they know it. For if they aren't deliberately misleading everyone then they are incredibly incompetent - either way this is not on, not least when the National Audit Office are also being stopped from giving the VFM study a fresh check-over.

It seems reasonable to suggest there is a case for investigating whether a fraud is being perpetrated on the British taxpayers - who of course have been allowed no say on Trident, either by the last government or the present one.

The lack of accountability to Parliament or the People is staggering. There seems more than enough irregularity - including a policy difference between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary on whether the government supports multilateral nuclear disarmament - for Greenpeace to seriously consider referring the UK Government to the United Nations. I very much hope you now do just that!

GOVERNMENT'S TRIDENT FIGURES DON'T ADD UP - TIME FOR GREENPEACE TO CALL ON THE UN Greenpeace has costed Trident2 at £97bn - who believes it? Well, for starters, currently 78% of the TridentVote poll - still open at http://bit.ly/g4W48. But the press is following Defence Secretary Liam Fox's figure of £20bn - the old MoD figure used by the last Labour government and believed by just 6% in this poll. What does it all mean? Well, I'm struggling here - after all, the Trident value for money exercise was conducted in secret and Fox explicitly rejected MPs' demands for engagement with or submissions from independent organisations. But it could mean that his study was based on, and is sticking to, £20bn total cost for the Trident2 project and that the Treasury is holding the MoD to finding this from their budget allocation rather than allocating new funding. If this is correct and the true cost is as Greenpeace has calculated, then apparently there is a hole of £77bn. The MoD may be using some smokescreen: the budget cycle vs. the longterm costs - we won't know as government refuses to report to Parliament on the VFM study but instead are pushing it into the strategic defence review despite voting down a Queen's Speech amendment to do just that. Good luck to the government too on seeking to make the MoD stop their over-spending: they're always over-budget (the superbly named Astute nuke sub was £1bn over-budget). Little wonder that few trust them to do the shopping for anything, let alone handle the leasing of more Trident nukes. Although perversely the Foreign Secretary claims the coalition government has a new policy of being open and transparent on nukes - whilst refusing to allow independent verification of the UK nuke warhead stockpile - surely the plausible conclusion for all this government duplicity and secrecy is that the Trident figures don't add up and they know it. For if they aren't deliberately misleading everyone then they are incredibly incompetent - either way this is not on, not least when the National Audit Office are also being stopped from giving the VFM study a fresh check-over. It seems reasonable to suggest there is a case for investigating whether a fraud is being perpetrated on the British taxpayers - who of course have been allowed no say on Trident, either by the last government or the present one. The lack of accountability to Parliament or the People is staggering. There seems more than enough irregularity - including a policy difference between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary on whether the government supports multilateral nuclear disarmament - for Greenpeace to seriously consider referring the UK Government to the United Nations. I very much hope you now do just that!