Brown urged to scrap Trident

Friday, 3 July 2009 12:00 AM

By Alice Cannet

Billion of pounds could be saved by scrapping Trident and ID cards, the general secretary of Unison will declare today.

Dave Prentis will speak at Unison's political conference in Manchester where he is expected to reject the government's nuclear submarines as "criminal waste".

"Trident costs £1.5 billion a year to run and a replacement will cost more than £40 billion. This is a criminal waste of money that the country clearly cannot afford," he will say.

"That money would be better spent building and running our schools and hospitals, funding better pensions to care for the elderly and improving the quality of people's lives.

"This recession is hitting working people very hard. The government has ploughed billions into shoring up the banks and big business at enormous cost to the taxpayer."

Mr Prentis will call on ministers to "get their priorities straight" by using the money saved by scrapping Trident to stimulate the economy and help families struggling with the recession.

He will add: "Even those who argued that a nuclear deterrent was necessary in the 60s and 70s can no longer argue that such expenditure is justified. With money being so tight, it's time to face facts - Trident and ID cards must go."

Mr Brown has ordered a reconsideration of the plan to replace the missiles which would otherwise cost £25 billion to change with running costs of £1 billion a year.

Earlier this week the Institute for Public Policy Research's commission on national security called on the government to examine alternatives to Trident - while maintaining a "minimum credible" nuclear deterrent.

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• foreign policy