thought id share my response to david blunkett's accusation that the lib dems costing for trident were 'micky mouse'
Dear Mr Blunkett, on last’s night’s post leadership debate programme you described Nick Clegg’s £100bn cost estimate for trident as ‘mickey mouse’ and stated that replacement for Trident will cost £20bn.
You may not be aware but £20bn is purely the estimated procurement cost for new submarines, new warheads and limited infrastructure.
It does not include the annual running costs for a replacement nuclear weapons system, which according to government figures will be £1.9-2.3bn per annum.
Further the £15-20bn estimate has been heavily criticised by the National Audit Office, who have asked the MoD to come back to them with revised estimates at the end of the submarine concept phase.
It does not include the costs of AWE Aldermaston (estimated at £7.5bn between 2005 and 2015).
It does not include the cost of extending the lifetime of our current missiles or indeed procuring a new generation of missiles.
I thought you would benefit from reading the In The Firing Line report (http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/firing-line-hidden-costs-supercarrier-project-and-replacing-trident) which details exactly how the £97bn cost for trident is reached. It also points out that government own figures for procurement and running costs when added together come to £76bn.
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