Publication

The UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent will reach the end of its service life in approximately 2024. In summer 2006 the government announced that a White Paper on the future of the British nuclear deterrent would be published before the end of the year and that the issue would be debated and put to a vote in parliament. This paper sets out a number of issues that may inform that debate, including assessments of the future security environment; the UK’s international treaty obligations; the potential cost of procuring a successor system; and the implications of dispensing with the deterrent. It also examines public opinion and the options available to the government.