One of the most clear-cut distinctions between the Lib Dems and the other two parties has been the promise to scrap the replacement for Trident, the massive project to renew Britain's nuclear deterrent, estimated to cost up to £100bn. Both Labour and the Tories have promised to keep it, evoking images of the Cold War and the rise of rogue states to emphasise its importance.
The Lib Dems have also pledged to clamp down on defence exports to regimes it finds questionable, and to bring troops home from Afghanistan in the next Parliament.
But while the Lib Dems' Treasury spokesman Vince Cable has stumbled over his sums when asked how much cash scrapping Trident will save, the policy has backing in high places - four Army generals have written a letter calling for Trident to be included in the Strategic Defence Review that each party has promised after the election.
"Given the present economic climate, in which the defence budget faces the prospect of worrying cuts, and that we have already an estimated hole in the defence equipment budget of some £35bn, it is crucial that a review is fully costed and looks critically at all significant planned defence spending," they wrote.
The Daily Mail sums it up quite nicely.
No properly functioning nuclear State has ever been invaded. India and Pakistan are now unlikely to go to war against each other for the simple reason that both possess nuclear weapons.
By: Widow 6-7
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