Various stories covering the Prime Minister's statement
Posted: 16th March 2021
Why the UK lifting its nuclear weapon stockpile cap is not what it seems, writes Robert Peston
- ITN, Tuesday 16 March 2021, 12:53pm
Credit: AP/PA
There is an an enormous amount of noise around the apparent statement, in the government’s “Integrated Review”, that the government is increasing its stockpile of nuclear warheads by more than a third.
But a close reading of what it says shows no such commitment at all. What the document says is: “In 2010, the government stated an intent to reduce our overall nuclear warhead stockpile ceiling from not more than 225 to not more than 180 by the mid-2020s.
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Lifting cap on nuclear weapons is ‘ultimate insurance policy’, says Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
“However, in recognition of the evolving security environment, including the developing range of technological and doctrinal threats, this is no longer possible, and the UK will move to an overall nuclear weapon stockpile of no more than 260 warheads”.
To be clear, the current stockpile of nuclear weapons is unknown. It is a state secret. But whatever it may be, we know (unless the government has been lying in the past) it is already “not more than” 260.
So zero change in the stock of warheads or even a reduction would be consistent with this promise. Why did Boris Johnson bother with the statement then?
Well, one former government member says there is some merit in sowing more uncertainty about our capability among actual and potential enemies.
Another ex-minister has a slightly more cynical take: “This is all about appearing to have a new direction after Brexit and adding in things which look significant” – but aren’t really, on closer inspection.
Integrated review: UK nuclear stockpile to increase
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56413920
BBC ON LINE, 16 MARCH 2021
The UK is set to reverse plans to reduce its stockpile of nuclear weapons by the middle of the decade, as part of a foreign policy overhaul.
The cap on the number of warheads will now increase to 260, having been due to drop to 180 under previous plans from 2010.
The UK will shift focus towards Indo-Pacific countries, described as the world’s “growth engine”.
And it pledges the UK will do more on the “systemic challenge” of China.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said relations with the country posed “difficult issues,” including over industrial secrets and telecoms.
But he warned against adopting a “Cold-War mentality” towards China, amid internal pressure from Conservatives to take a harder line.
The integrated review, which Boris Johnson will update MPs on shortly, has taken over a year and sets out the UK’s foreign policy until 2030.
The document, which runs to over 100 pages, indentifies Russia as the “most acute threat” to UK security.
It says the decision to lift the overall cap on the UK’s nuclear warhead stockpile is justified by the “evolving security environment” since 2010.
It also sets out an ambition to make the UK a “science and tech superpower” by the end of the decade.
A new counter-terrorism operations centre is also planned, intended to improve the speed of response to terrorist incidents.
- Defence reforms ‘will help make UK match-fit’
- PM launches review to ‘overhaul’ foreign policy
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UK to shift foreign policy focus after review
Britain to expand nuclear stockpile by over 40% as global threats rise
With its current submarines, Britain said it would stick to its existing policy of always having one submarine of its four nuclear deterrent submarines on continuous patrol.
Jerusalem Post, REUTERS, MARCH 16, 2021 14:37
https://www.jpost.com/international/britain-to-expand-nuclear-stockpile-by-over-40-percent-as-global-threats-rise-662176
Britain will grow its nuclear warhead stockpile by more than 40% to ensure its security in a more risky global environment and as it faces new technological threats, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday.
The country had previously been reducing its nuclear weapons stockpile, and in 2010, the government set a cap of 180 warheads for the mid-2020 period. Johnson has scrapped the earlier limit and announced the number would now rise to a maximum of 260.
Britain said in a security and defense review it faced risks from nuclear-armed states, emerging nuclear states and state-sponsored nuclear terrorism, and its nuclear deterrent was needed to guarantee its security and that of its allies.
“Some states are now significantly increasing and diversifying their nuclear arsenals,” the government said in the review. “The increase in global competition, challenges to the international order, and proliferation of potentially disruptive technologies all pose a threat to strategic stability.”
Britain also said it planned to replace its current nuclear warhead with a new one which would be able to operate throughout the lifespan of four new submarines being built and due to enter service in the early 2030s.
It will work with the United States to ensure the new warhead remains Trident-compatible.
With its current submarines, Britain said it would stick to its existing policy of always having one submarine of its four nuclear deterrent submarines on continuous patrol.
UK’s Nuclear Weapon Stockpile Set To Expand By More Than 40% Following Fresh Defence Review
John Johnston
@johnjohnstonmi
Politics Home, 16 March 2021
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/boris-johnson-set-to-expand-uks-nuclear-weapon-stockpile-by-more-than-40-integrated-review-defence
Downing Street are set to scrap a policy aimed at the gradual disarmament of nuclear weapons following a major review into the UK’s defence capabilities.
The long-awaited Integrated Review into the country’s defence, security and foreign policy has concluded that it was “no longer possible” to continue reducing the UK’s nuclear weapons as they warned of a new “range of technological and doctrinal threats”.
The report, published on Tuesday, announced the cap on nuclear weapons would be lifted from its current level of 180 to “no more than” 260 “in recognition of the evolving security environment”.
The post-Brexit defence review said the purpose of the UK’s nuclear weapons programme was to “preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression”.
“In 2010 the Government stated an intent to reduce our overall nuclear warhead stockpile ceiling from not more than 225 to not more than 180 by the mid-2020s,” the report added.
“However, in recognition of the evolving security environment, including the developing range of technological and doctrinal threats, this is no longer possible, and the UK will move to an overall nuclear weapon stockpile of no more than 260 warheads.”
In a foreword to the report, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the review would enable the country to be “better-equipped for a more competitive world – defending our democratic institutions and economy from state threats, terrorists and organised crime groups.”He added: “We will remain a nuclear-armed power with global reach and integrated military capabilities…
“Our democracy will be underwritten by the credibility of our deterrent and our ability to project power.”
Meanwhile, the report outlined plans for the UK’s at-sea nuclear deterrent to be continued with at least one nuclear armed submarine on duty at all times, saying the government “remain committed to maintain the minimum destructive power needed to guarantee the UK’s nuclear deterrent remains credible and effective against the full range of state nuclear threats from any direction”.
The decision to increase the UK’s nuclear stockpile came amid growing fears over the “active threat” from Russia, with the foreign policy review branding the country as “the most acute direct threat to the UK”.
But the plans have already faced criticism, with SNP defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald branding the decision as “nothing short of abhorrent”.
“For Boris Johnson to stand up and champion the international rules-based system before announcing in the same breath that the UK plans to violate its commitments to the international treaty on non-proliferation beggars belief”, he said.
“Renewing Trident nuclear weapons was already a shameful and regressive decision, however, increasing the cap on the number of Trident weapons the UK can stockpile by more than 40% is nothing short of abhorrent.
“It speaks volumes of the Tory Government’s spending priorities that it is intent on increasing its collection of weapons of mass destruction – which will sit and gather dust unless the UK has plans to indiscriminately wipe out entire populations – rather than address the serious challenges and inequalities in our societ that have been further exposed by the pandemic.”
Other measures in the review include a major investment in space, while it repeated the previous announcement of a new national cyber force to increase the UK’s capability to tackle cyber-attacks and online crime.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson is set to confirm the UK’s planned cuts to the UK’s global aid budget while the country recovers from the economic impact of the Covid pandemic, but will saying the commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on aid will return “once the fiscal situation allows.”
By Ailbhe Rea, political correspondent
15 March 2021
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/03/labour-has-no-idea-how-respond-increase-trident-nuclear-warheads
Boris Johnson will unveil his vision for British foreign policy post-Brexit today, with the publication of the Integrated Review of security, defence, development, and foreign policy and a statement in the House of Commons at 12.30pm.
The review, titled “Global Britain in a competitive age”, is expected to announce an effective end to 30 years of gradual nuclear disarmament, by lifting the cap on the number of Trident nuclear warheads the UK can stockpile from 180 to 260, according to a report from the Guardian. These additions to the British nuclear arsenal are to coincide with a major increase in defence spending and a more aggressive role overseas, with British troops serving overseas “more often and for longer”, according to leaks to the Sun. (None of this is confirmed until the report is published this afternoon, of course.)
How does Labour respond? With some difficulty, one can imagine. One of the key pillars of Keir Starmer’s leadership has been to differentiate himself from the foreign policy and security approach adopted by his predecessor. Jeremy Corbyn’s decades-long and sincere opposition to nuclear weapons was a repeated sore spot during his leadership, as his own obvious discomfort with the principle of a nuclear deterrent frequently undermined Labour’s stated commitment to renewing Trident. The new Labour leader has sought to draw a sharp contrast with that era, declaring: “under my leadership, national security will always be the top priority for Labour.”
The largest increase in our nuclear stockpile since the Cold War presents a challenge for Starmer’s Labour, desperate to project its commitment to having a nuclear deterrent and a tougher, more patriotic, approach to the wider issue of national security. British rearmament is plainly not a direction or an approach that the Labour leadership can endorse, but not one it wants to make a full-throated case against either; Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, has so far highlighted the “inconsistencies” across the review, but her line on the Guardian’s big story is buried in a Twitter thread, contrasting the “language of disarmament” in the review with the increase in this nuclear cap.
This is an argument that Keir Starmer and his team would rather not have, especially in a week where Labour is voting against a bill that will see the Conservatives paint them as ‘opposing tougher sentences for paedophiles’ due to their opposition to other parts of the bill. On Trident as with the police bill, we’re seeing that, in a world where you’re either for or against something, there’s no space for a Labour party to project toughness on national security while being less tough than the Tories.