Local politicians clash on future of nuclear deterrent

Potentially at stake are the jobs of the 4,300 staff and 1, 500 contractors AWE currently employs at its sites in Aldermaston and Burghfield.
A final decision on any replacement will be taken after the next general election in 2016 but this week a review commissioned by the Liberal Democrats suggested alternatives.
AWE is the home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent and is responsible for the entire lifecycle of the country’s warheads from research and design through assembly to maintenance, decommissioning and disposal.
While it also produces other weapons and high explosives, its core mission is to build and maintain warheads for the submarine-launched Trident ballistic missile system that forms the UK’s sole nuclear deterrent.
It will also be required to design any warhead to replace Trident.
Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted Britain needs to maintain its ‘continuous, at-sea deterrence’ and that therefore the ageing Trident system must be replaced on a like-for-like basis.
But the Liberal Democrats’ Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Newbury, Judith Bunting, said: “I have massive respect for the high level engineering and science conducted at AWE – I’m in awe of what goes on there.
“However that doesn’t mean what’s being produced there is appropriate for today.
“Replacing and maintaining Trident would cost in excess of £100 billion and we’re in the middle of the harshest cuts of normal services we’ve ever faced.
“It comes down to the economic argument.”
However Mrs Bunting, who directed and produced science programmes for the BBC, added: “I’m very concerned about the future of the people at AWE.
“I look forward to visiting in future to find out what their thinking is.
“Whatever happens we can’t let this hub of extraordinary scientific skill be lost, we must keep them in harness.
“The Liberal Democrats are looking at alternatives to Trident, which is a vestige of the Cold War and inappropriate for today’s world situation.”
But Mr Benyon told the Newbury Weekly News: “You can’t have a half price nuclear deterrent that only sails at certain times – that’s ridiculous.
“The alternative Lib Dem proposals won’t even save much money.
“I wish we lived in a world where places like AWE aren’t necessary, but we don’t.
“We need to be able to rely on our nuclear deterrent in 20 or 40 years’ time.
“It must be fit for purpose and to do it on the cheap is just wrong.”